Trump, Senate GOP block Venezuela war powers vote

Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) talks to reporters about Venezuela war powers vote

(Image credit: Heather Diehl / Getty Images)

What happened

The Senate on Wednesday quashed a bipartisan resolution that would have required President Donald Trump to get congressional approval for any U.S. military activity in Venezuela. Five Republicans voted with Democrats last week to force a vote on the measure, but two of them — Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Todd Young (Ind.) — flipped under intense pressure from Trump. Vice President JD Vance had to break the 50-50 deadlock to scuttle the legislation.

Who said what

Senate Republicans used an “unusual procedure to block the measure,” stripping its “privileged” status, The Wall Street Journal said. The “deployment of the rare procedural tool” averted an “embarrassing defeat” for Trump while also giving “the Republican defectors an offramp without fully appearing to abandon their objections,” The New York Times said.

“It’s disappointing that my colleagues let the president sort of beat them into submission,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who co-sponsored the resolution with Sen Rand Paul (R-Ky.). But it forced the White House to “work their ass off to keep their people in the corral” and make “some commitments that they otherwise wouldn’t have.” The vote was a “victory” for Trump and proof of his “continued sway over the GOP,” Politico said, but last week’s “rare rebuke” and the White House’s “full-court press” to “beat back the Democrats” suggest “the fight over Trump’s war powers isn’t ending anytime soon.”

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What next?

Republican “angst” over Trump’s “recent foreign policy moves — especially threats of using military force to seize Greenland from a NATO ally — is still running high in Congress,” The Associated Press said. Kaine said he didn’t expect planned war powers votes on Iran, Colombia, Mexico and Cuba to become law, but predicted the Greenland resolution could get the two-thirds majority needed to overcome Trump’s veto.

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.