Senate advances war powers resolution to rein in Trump on Venezuela
The resolution narrowly advanced with a vote of 52-47.
Senate votes to advance Venezuela war powers resolutionFive Republicans joined Democrats in an effort to block President Donald Trump from sending troops into Venezuela without congressional approval.
Heather Diehl/Getty Images
In a rare rebuke to the Trump administration, the Senate on Thursday advanced a war powers resolution that would block the president’s use of the U.S. armed forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress.
A small group of Senate Republicans joined with all Democrats to narrowly advance the resolution by a vote of 52-47. It needed 51 votes to move forward.
The legislation, if ultimately approved by the Senate, would still need to be approved by the House and signed by the president. The bill did not pass the Senate with a veto-proof majority and it is unlikely that Trump would sign it into law. In order to override a presidential veto, Congress would need the support of two-thirds of the House and the Senate.
Republican Sens. Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Todd Young, Susan Collins and Josh Hawley voted with all Democrats in favor of the legislation.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pushed for the resolution to receive a vote immediately after President Donald Trump announced U.S. forces carried out a large-scale attack in Venezuela, capturing dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife, who are facing federal charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine. Both Maduro and his wife entered not guilty pleas earlier this week.
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“Where will this go next? Will the President deploy our troops to protect Iranian protesters? To enforce the fragile ceasefire in Gaza? To battle terrorists in Nigeria? To seize Greenland or the Panama Canal? To suppress Americans peacefully assembling to protest his policies? Trump has threatened to do all this and more and sees no need to seek legal authorization from people’s elected legislature before putting servicemembers at risk,” Kaine said in a statement on Jan. 3.
Kaine added it was “long past time for Congress to reassert its critical constitutional role in matters of war, peace, diplomacy and trade.”
The White House “strongly” opposes the war powers resolution, according to a new memo from the Office of Management and Budget obtained by ABC News on Thursday.
“Maduro’s crimes and other hostile actions have resulted in a predatory incursion into the United States, the destabilization of the Western Hemisphere, massive death and human suffering, and a substantial and ongoing danger posed to our Nation,” the memo reads.
The memo stated that if the resolution is presented to the president, “his advisors would recommend that he veto” it.
After the vote, Trump called out the GOP senators who voted for the resolution, saying in a social media post that they “should be ashamed” and “never be elected to office again.”
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“This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,” Trump posted.
The Constitution vests Congress with the authority to declare war while making the president the commander in chief of the military. Trump’s action in Venezuela follows a decadeslong pattern of presidents occasionally taking military action without congressional approval.
The Trump administration described the strike in Venezuela as a law enforcement operation facilitated by the military, and Trump has said the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela but the U.S. will “run” the country for an unspecified period of time.
Some of the Republicans who voted in favor of the resolution on Thursday said that while they were supportive of Trump’s initial action against Maduro, they do not support moving forward with additional action in the country without congressional approval.
“With Maduro rightfully captured, the circumstances have now changed. While I support the operation to seize Nicolas Maduro, which was extraordinary in its precision and complexity, I do not support committing additional U.S. forces or entering into any long-term military involvement in Venezuela or Greenland without specific congressional authorization,” Collins said in a statement explaining her support for the measure.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso urged senators to reject the resolution.
“Let’s be clear about what that resolution does and what it does not do. It does not reassert Congress’s powers. It does not make America stronger. It makes America weaker and less safe,” Barrasso said in a statement on Wednesday.
“It would weaken the President’s legitimate, constitutional authority. This body, the United States Senate, is being asked whether the President of the United States has the authority to arrest indicted criminals. Of course he does. Democrats want to weaken the President’s ability to enforce the law. That is the wrong message to send to hardened drug traffickers and to dictators,” Barrasso added.
Senate pushes back on Trump’s military threats against Venezuela with war powers vote
By STEPHEN GROVES and JOEY CAPPELLETTIUpdated 6:43 AM 10/1/2026, January 9, 2026
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate advanced a resolution Thursday that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela, sounding a note of disapproval for his expanding ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.
Democrats and five Republicans voted to advance the war powers resolution on a 52-47 vote and ensure a vote next week on final passage. It has virtually no chance of becoming law because Trump would have to sign it if it were to pass the Republican-controlled House. Still, it was a significant gesture that showed unease among some Republicans after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid over the weekend.
Trump’s administration is now seeking to control Venezuela’s oil resources and its government, but the war powers resolution would require congressional approval for any further attacks on the South American country.
“To me, this is all about going forward,” said Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, one of the five Republican votes. “If the president should determine, ‘You know what? I need to put troops on the ground of Venezuela,’ I think that would require Congress to weigh in.”
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The other Republicans who backed the resolution were Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young of Indiana.
Trump reacted to their votes by saying on social media that they “should never be elected to office again” and that the vote “greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security.”
Democrats had failed to pass several such resolutions in the months that Trump escalated his campaign against Venezuela. But lawmakers argued now that Trump has captured Maduro and set his sights to other conquests such as Greenland, the vote presents Congress with an opportunity.
“This wasn’t just a procedural vote. It’s a clear rejection of the idea that one person can unilaterally send American sons and daughters into harm’s way without Congress, without debate,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
Lawmakers’ response to the Venezuela operation
Republican leaders have said they had no advance notification of the raid early morning Saturday to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, but mostly expressed satisfaction this week as top administration officials provided classified briefings on the operation.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who forced the vote on the resolution, said he believes many Republicans were caught off guard by the outcome. He said that Trump’s recent comments to The New York Times suggesting U.S. oversight in Venezuela could last for years — combined with details revealed in the classified briefings — prompted some lawmakers to conclude that “this is too big to let a president do it without Congress.”
The administration has used an evolving set of legal justifications for the monthslong campaign in Central and South America, from destroying alleged drug boats under authorizations for the global fight against terrorism to seizing Maduro in what was ostensibly a law enforcement operation to put him on trial in the United States.
Republican leaders have backed Trump.
“I think the president has demonstrated at least already a very strong commitment to peace through strength, especially in this hemisphere,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “I think Venezuela got that message loudly and clearly.”
A vote on a similar resolution in November narrowly failed to gain the majority needed. Paul and Murkowski were the only Republicans voting in favor then.
Young in a statement said he supported the operation to capture Maduro, but was concerned by Trump’s statements that his administration now “runs” Venezuela.
“It is unclear if that means that an American military presence will be required to stabilize the country,” Young said, adding that he believed most of his constituents were not prepared to send U.S. troops to that mission.
House Democrats were introducing a similar resolution Thursday.
The rarely enforced War Powers Act
Trump criticized the Senate vote as “impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief” under the Constitution.
Presidents of both parties have long argued the War Powers Act infringes on their authority. Passed in 1973 in the aftermath of the Vietnam War — and over the veto of Republican President Richard Nixon — it has never succeeded in directly forcing a president to halt military action.
Congress declares war while the president serves as commander in chief, according to the Constitution. But lawmakers have not formally declared war since World War II, granting presidents broad latitude to act unilaterally. The law requires presidents to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying forces and to end military action within 60 to 90 days absent authorization — limits that presidents of both parties have routinely stretched.
Democrats argue those limits are being pushed further than ever. Some Republicans have gone further still, contending congressional approval is unnecessary altogether.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally who traveled with the president aboard Air Force One on Sunday, said he would be comfortable with Trump taking over other countries without congressional approval, including Greenland.
“The commander in chief is the commander in chief. They can use military force,” Graham said.
Greenland may further test the limits
Graham’s comments come as the administration weighs not only its next steps in Venezuela, but also Greenland. The White House has said the “military is always an option” when it comes to a potential American takeover of the world’s largest island.
Republicans have cited Greenland’s strategic value, but most have balked at the idea of using the military to take the country. Some favor a potential deal to purchase the country, while others have acknowledged that is an unlikely option when Denmark and Greenland have rejected Trump’s overtures.
Democrats want to get out in front of any military action and are already preparing to respond. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego said he expected soon to introduce a resolution “to block Trump from invading Greenland.”
Greenland belongs to a NATO ally, Denmark, which has prompted a much different response from Republican senators than the situation in Venezuela.
On Thursday, Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met with the Danish ambassador to the United States, Jesper Møller Sørensen. Also in the meeting were the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and the head of Greenland’s representation to the U.S. and Canada, Jacob Isbosethsen.
“There’s no willingness on their part to negotiate for the purchase or the change in title to their land which they’ve had for so long,” Wicker, R-Miss., said afterward. “That’s their prerogative and their right.”
Wicker added that he hoped an agreement could be reached that would strengthen the U.S. relationship with Denmark.
“Greenland is not for sale,” Isbosethsen told reporters.
