Republicans Don’t Have a Clear Line for When Trump Needs War Powers Approval on Venezuela

As President Donald Trump escalates U.S. military pressure on Venezuela and drug trafficking networks in the Western Hemisphere, Republicans on Capitol Hill are facing a question: When, if ever, does the president need Congress’ permission?

So far, there’s no consensus. Republicans have largely rallied behind Trump’s campaign, but many struggle or decline to define where congressional authority should begin.

House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast told NOTUS last week that congressional authorization becomes relevant “at a point that you’re doing something beyond responding to an imminent threat, something that’s a sustained action, which is what war powers call for.”

Pressed on whether land strikes or ground troops would cross that threshold, Mast pushed back on the premise that a line could be drawn at all.

“You can’t even say a land strike,” he said.

The war powers debate is sharpening as Trump continues to escalate pressure on Venezuela, openly floating land strikes and hinting at the removal of Nicolás Maduro. Since early September, U.S. forces have carried out repeated strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 95 people. Trump has also seized oil tankers and announced a “complete and total” blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan vessels.

The president has yet to ask Congress — which has the sole authority to declare war under the Constitution — for its approval for these actions, arguing that so far the operation falls within his existing powers to respond to the threats posed by “narco-terrorists.”

House Democrats failed last week to pass a pair of war powers resolutions aimed at reining in Trump’s use of force in the Western Hemisphere, including against Venezuela, without explicit congressional approval. The effort follows earlier Senate votes on similar war powers resolutions, which also failed.

At least five Republicans across both chambers — including Sens. Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, as well as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Don Bacon — have aligned with Democrats in arguing that Trump has already escalated U.S. military action far enough to require explicit congressional authorization.

Most Republicans, however, remain unconvinced.

House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers said he hasn’t seen anything so far that would require Congress to step in.

“I don’t think he’s done anything that needs us to be involved,” Rogers said, adding that he wasn’t prepared to define a specific red line.

“It depends on the circumstances. I’m not going to box myself in,” he added, though he said that “there should be a point.”

Republican senators were no clearer, offering their own blurred sense of when Trump should seek congressional authorization.

Sen. Josh Hawley said putting U.S. troops on the ground for offensive operations “traditionally looks like war,” but stopped short of saying Congress must always authorize such a move.

“It depends,” he said. “We could preauthorize it. If the president comes to us and says, ‘I want to do this,’ that’s the classic asking for a declaration of war.”

Sen. Thom Tillis said he supports what Trump is trying to do in Venezuela and suggested the president might gain more backing if he laid out an endgame. He said he wasn’t sure when that should involve formally asking for Congress’ backing.

“It’s very difficult. It’s not necessarily formulaic,” Tillis said. “If this becomes a sustained effort … it probably would help legitimize the effort by coming to Congress and get support.”

Others were more unequivocal in their support for Trump taking whatever action he wishes.

“I don’t have a line,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said when asked where congressional authorization would become necessary. Asked whether that applied even in the case of an invasion, Graham answered: “Yes.”