Washington– Republicans in the Senate are facing intense pressure from… President Donald Trump to vote against the War Powers Resolution on Wednesday that aims to limit the president’s ability to do more Military action against Venezuela.
Five Republican senators The United States joined Democrats to push the resolution last week, but Trump has criticized dissenters as he tries to avoid passage of the bill. Democrats are forcing the vote after US forces arrested the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro In a surprise night raid earlier this month.
“We have here one of the most successful attacks ever and they are finding a way to counter it. It’s very amazing. It’s unfortunate,” Trump said in a press conference. Speech in Michigan Tuesday. He also hurled insults at several Republicans who advanced the legislation, calling Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky a “cold loser” and Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine “disasters.”
Trump’s latest statements came after previous phone calls with senators, which they described as brief. The anger the president directs at them highlights how the war-power vote has taken on new political significance as Trump expands his foreign policy ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.
This legislation, even if passed by the Senate, has no chance of becoming law because it would eventually need Trump’s signature. But it was a test of the Republican Party’s loyalty to the president and a sign of loyalty Time slot for the Republican-controlled Senate Willing to give Trump use of the military abroad.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri who helped push the war powers resolution last week, indicated he might change his position.
Trump’s message during a phone call last week was that the legislation “really ties my hands,” Hawley said. The senator said he made a follow-up phone call with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio That was “really positive.”
Hawley said Rubio told him on Monday, “Frankly, we’re not sending ground troops.” The senator said he also received assurances that the Trump administration would follow constitutional requirements if it became necessary to again deploy troops to the South American country.
“I’m in a listen-and-receive mode at this time,” Hawley said, adding: “I don’t know how on the ground we’re going to move forward.”
Sen. Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, who also voted to advance the resolution, repeatedly declined to discuss his position, but said he was “giving it some thought.” Collins had voted against similar war powers resolutions in previous months before voting last week to support the resolution currently before the Senate.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who has introduced a series of war powers resolutions this year, said he was not surprised by Trump’s reaction to Congress asserting its ability to vet the president.
“They are angry at the idea that Congress wants to become Congress,” he said. “But I think the people who ran for Senate want to be U.S. senators and don’t want to just be voted out of their insignificance.”
Trump has used a series of legal justifications for his campaign against Maduro.
As it is Established a naval force In the Caribbean and destroyed ships that were allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, the Trump administration exploited its wartime powers under the global war on terrorism by designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
The administration claimed that the arrest of Maduro himself was actually a law enforcement operation, essentially to extradite the Venezuelan president to stand trial on charges in the United States that were filed in 2020.
In a classified briefing on Tuesday, senators reviewed the Trump administration’s not-yet-revealed legal opinion on the use of the military in the operation. It has been described as a lengthy document.
As he exited the secret briefing room in the Capitol, Paul said: “The legal arguments and the constitutional arguments should be public, and it is a terrible thing for any of this to remain secret because the arguments are not very good.”
Lawmakers, including some Republicans, have been alarmed by Trump’s recent foreign policy talk. In recent weeks, he pledged that the United States would “run” Venezuela for years to come, and threatened military action Possession of Greenland He told Iranians protesting against their government that “ Help is on its way“.
“It’s amazing. He’s concerned about the protesters in Iran, but he’s not concerned about the harm that ICE is doing to protesters and Americans in Minnesota and elsewhere,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, referring to the killing of a woman in Minnesota by an ICE officer.
Republican Senate leaders have been looking for ways to do just that Defuse the conflict between their members and Trump and were eager to quickly move on to other business.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RD, questioned whether this war powers resolution should be prioritized under the Senate’s rules.
He said: “We have no forces in Venezuela. There is no kinetic action. There are no operations. There are no forces on the ground,” considering that the legislation “does not reflect the current reality in Venezuela.”
But even if Republican leaders try to reject the legislation on these grounds, it will still get a vote.
Schumer said he hopes the five Republicans will at least stick to their position because they “understand how important this is.”
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Joy Cappelletti contributed reporting.