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President Donald Trump suffered a rare defeat from his own party on Thursday when a handful of Senate Republicans rebelled to curb his usage of military force in Venezuela.
The attempt to reassert Congress’ war powers authority, led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., survived despite broad support among most Senate Republicans, who argued that Trump’s use of the military in Venezuela was justified.
Among the defectors were Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who co-sponsored the resolution, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, Todd Young, R-Ind., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
But Thursday’s successful vote, which also handed Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., a rare defeat on the floor, is just the first step before the resolution officially passes. The Senate will have to take another vote, this time with the 60-vote filibuster threshold, before it becomes official.
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Kaine’s resolution would effectively end any further military operations involving Venezuela without explicit congressional approval. It was one of many bids since Trump took office last year by the bipartisan group to claw back Congress’ authority in weighing in on military action.
The outcome of the vote remained an open question, even just moments before the final gavel.
The defectors were on the fence on whether to rein Trump in following a classified briefing with administration officials on Operation Absolute Resolve, the codename of the mission to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Their issues weren’t necessarily with the actual operation itself, but with what comes next. And more specifically, if there would be further military activity in the country.
“We were told that there are currently no boots on the ground. Is it an option? What I heard was that everything is an option,” Hawley said.
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But top administration officials, and several congressional Republicans briefed on the matter throughout the week, argued that the strikes in Venezuela were justified and that the military was used to assist in a law enforcement operation to capture Maduro.
Still, Senate Republican leadership was confident they would have the votes needed to kill the bipartisan resolution.
“Republicans support what the president has done,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said. “It was an incredible act and the military was absolutely superb.”
Before the vote, Kaine and Paul were already looking ahead at other opportunities to curb the administration’s use of military force without congressional approval.
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Greenland reemerged as a hot topic on the Hill this week, following comments from Trump officials that indicated that military action wasn’t off the table to capture the colossal, resource-rich Arctic territory, where the U.S. already has a military base.
Several Republicans like the idea of purchasing the territory from Denmark but have not yet committed to claiming it by force. There are other countries that have entered or long been in Trump’s crosshairs for conquest, too, that the duo want to ensure Congress has a say on.
“We’re going to be working with others to file resolutions about Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Greenland,” Kaine said. “And Nigeria — people didn’t pay attention but there was a U.S. military strike in Nigeria.”
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Paul said he would likely support future war powers resolutions, given his strong feelings about Congress’ constitutional authority.
“I’ve supported most of them, all of them,” Paul said. “I probably will continue to support them, because I — there’s some symbolism to this too, and symbolism is over, who should initiate and declare war, which I feel strongly about.”
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