Five GOP Senators Break With President Trump on Venezuela War Powers Vote
In a narrow vote early Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan resolution aimed at restricting President Donald J. Trump’s ability to authorize future military action in Venezuela without explicit congressional approval.
The measure passed 52–47, clearing the Senate’s 50-vote threshold. While the overwhelming majority of Republicans stood with the President in opposing the resolution, five GOP senators broke ranks: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Todd Young of Indiana, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined Paul as a co-sponsor of the resolution, and every Democrat voted in favor of reasserting congressional oversight over the President’s use of military force.
Despite his vote, Sen. Hawley pushed back against claims that he was defying the President, emphasizing Congress’s constitutional role in any extended conflict.
“On a going forward basis… that if the president should determine that he needs to put troops on the ground of Venezuela, I think then that Congress would have to be on the hook for that,” the Missouri Republican told reporters following the vote.
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who has at times aligned with President Trump’s foreign policy posture, ultimately voted with Democrats to support the resolution. Fetterman has previously praised the successful U.S. operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Republican leadership and rank-and-file senators alike rejected the resolution, arguing that it was unnecessary and politically motivated.
“Anything that Trump does, they’re opposed to, no matter how much in the past they may have been supportive of getting Maduro out of there,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told the Daily Caller News Foundation earlier this week, dismissing the war powers effort as redundant.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky echoed that view, warning against misuse of the War Powers Act.
“You don’t have to agree with a president’s approach to national security policy to acknowledge his compliance with the law & his constitutional authority for the use of force… which makes the invocation of the War Powers Act such a tired and blunt instrument,” McConnell wrote on X prior to the vote.
The Republicans who supported the measure argued that any future escalation in Venezuela must be explicitly authorized by Congress. Sen. Rand Paul framed the issue as a fundamental constitutional concern.
“I think it’s a crazy notion to say we’re going to call something that looks like war, not war, and call it a law enforcement operation, simply because we want to redefine it that way so we don’t have to ask Congress for permission,” Paul told reporters. “I think it’s a clear violation of the Constitution.”
Sen. Collins said her support stemmed from concerns over President Trump’s public comments regarding Venezuela’s future. In an interview with The New York Times, Trump suggested the United States could be involved in governing the country for years, noting that “only time will tell.”
“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 ahead of Thursday’s vote.
Public opinion on U.S. military involvement in Venezuela remains divided. A CBS News poll released Wednesday found that 52 percent of Americans disapprove of military action to remove Maduro.
This is not the first time the Senate has considered such limits. In November, lawmakers rejected a similar bipartisan proposal. At that time, Paul and Murkowski were the only Republicans to side against President Trump.