WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans thwarted an effort to rein in President Donald Trump’s war powers in Venezuela after an effort from the White House to regain support from Republicans who previously voted to limit his authority.
The Senate voted 51-50 to dismiss the measure, narrowly overcoming the simple majority threshold required to tank the bill after Vice President J.D. Vance was called in as the tie-breaking vote. The failure deals a blow to Senate Democrats in particular, who have pushed for months to limit what authority Trump has to order military action, seeking to assert Congress’ war power authority.
Republican leaders defeated the effort by using a procedural tool to remove the privileged status of the resolution, making it no longer eligible for a simple majority vote of 50 votes. The order would therefore table the resolution as GOP leaders argue the resolution is unnecessary because there are no U.S. troops on the ground in Venezuela.
“These are consequential, big decisions and people want to feel like they’re honoring their obligations to the people that they represent and their own views on some of these issues,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on Wednesday.
The resolution comes after the U.S. carried out strikes against Venezuela earlier this month and captured the country’s president on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.
The strikes raised concerns among several senators that the mission was unconstitutional because Congress was not briefed in advance. Only Congress can approve an act of war under the Constitution.
The disparity among lawmakers prompted a bipartisan pair of senators — Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia — to force a vote on their resolution restricting what Trump can do in the country to avoid sending U.S. troops without approval.
The resolution advanced through the Senate last week after five Republicans broke party lines to support it, marking a rare moment in which Republicans have blocked Trump from taking action.
But after a pressure campaign from the Trump administration in both public statements and private communications, two of those Republicans switched their support — effectively killing the bill.
“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last week. “In any event, and despite their ‘stupidity,’ the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Miss., switched his vote after affirming with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that there are no U.S. troops currently in Venezuela, and that the administration has no plans to send them there. Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis also voted to dismiss the measure.
“I’ve talked to (the) DOJ, I’ve talked to (the) State Department, I’ve talked to the secretary, I’ve talked to the president,” Hawley said. “I think this is directly responsive to my concerns. I didn’t write the resolution, obviously, but my concerns have been about ground troops, and this is — I want to take yes for an answer here.”
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., also switched his vote from last week, noting the administration had been receptive to his concerns and he’s “grateful for that.”
“I think we played our hand well,” Young told reporters after the vote. “I think the administration played its hand well. It’s right and proper that the executive defend what they regard to be their own prerogative so they can keep the American people safe and secure.”
The vote marks the third time Senate Democrats have forced a vote to limit Trump’s military abilities, with two previous unsuccessful attempts related to Iran and another in Venezuela.