The Senate on Thursday advanced a War Powers Resolution aimed at preventing President Trump from launching another attack on Venezuela without congressional authorization.
The bill advanced in a procedural vote to discharge it from committee, which sets up a final vote in the Senate next week, when it will need a simple majority to go to the House. It advanced on Thursday by a 52-47 vote, with five Republicans joining Democrats in support of the bill.
The five Republicans who voted for the bill include Senators Rand Paul (KY), who co-sponsored the legislation, Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), Todd Young (IN), and Josh Hawley (MO). President Trump responded to the vote by harshly criticizing the five Republicans, saying they “should never be elected to office again.”
The bill received support from three more Republicans than the previous Venezuela War Powers Resolution, which was voted on in November and failed 49-51.
“With regard to Venezuela, my read of the Constitution is that if the President feels the need to put boots on the ground there in the future, Congress would need to vote on it,” Hawley said in a post on X explaining his vote. “That’s why I voted yes on this morning’s Senate resolution.”
Since the US launched the attack on Venezuela that resulted in the killing of around 100 people and the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, President Trump has been threatening to bomb the country again if it doesn’t do his bidding. Trump has also said the US will “run” Venezuela and suggested that he could put “boots on the ground” in Venezuela.
“I believe invoking the War Powers Act at this moment is necessary, given the President’s comments about the possibility of ‘boots on the ground’ and a sustained engagement ‘running’ Venezuela, with which I do not agree,” Collins said in a statement on the vote.
Trump administration officials have also claimed that the major attack on Caracas was not an act of war, which Paul has strongly rejected. “But make no mistake, bombing another nation’s capital and removing their leader is an act of war, plain and simple,” Paul said. “No provision in the Constitution provides such power to the presidency.”
It’s unlikely the War Powers Resolution will pass the Senate or the House without a veto-proof majority, but its passage could still affect the Trump administration. For example, back in 2019, when Congress passed a War Powers Resolution aimed at ending US support for Saudi Arabia’s brutal war in Yemen, Trump vetoed the bill, but he also ended the US refueling of Saudi jets that were bombing the country.
