Senators Say They’ll Keep Pushing to Prevent War With Venezuela Without Congressional Approval

Sens. Rand Paul and Tim Kaine said Monday they will keep pushing to limit President Donald Trump’s ability to act without congressional approval on Venezuela and cartels, although there’s little appetite among Senate Republicans to check the president on land strikes.

“We don’t go to war without permission of Congress,” Paul said. “Even the Iraq War, which I objected to, Bush came to Congress and asked permission to go to war. If they want to attack another country, they need to come and explain why, and then there needs to be a vote.”

Trump said in a “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday that he doubts the United States will go to war with Venezuela but refused to rule out land strikes.

If he does order a strike, it could come quickly: American warships, bombers and drones are already positioned near the country’s coast. The Wall Street Journal and Miami Herald reported last week that potential targets inside Venezuela could be struck within days if ordered. The White House calls the buildup a counter-narcotics mission, though several U.S. officials told The New York Times that the operation is also intended to weaken Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government.

The U.S. military has targeted at least 14 vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September, killing more than 60 people accused of drug trafficking. Trump did not seek congressional approval for those strikes, and the Justice Department reportedly told Congress the president did not need lawmakers’ OK under the war powers law.

Paul joined with Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Adam Schiff of California on a resolution meant to limit Trump’s authority to launch military action without congressional approval. That measure failed in early October.

But Kaine said Monday that the threat of a land strike has raised the stakes and that he plans to put forward his measure again as soon as this week, hoping more Republicans join him this time.

He called the administration’s legal rationale “flimsy,” saying it only covers strikes in international waters, not attacks inside a sovereign nation.

“The president has said, ‘I’ve authorized covert operations,’ and he goes back and forth about land invasion, but the assets are there and we would be foolish not to take that seriously,” Kaine said.

Schiff wrote Monday on X that the Trump administration’s claim that it did not need congressional approval for boat strikes was “another illegal end-run to justify an unjustified use of force.”

When Kaine and Schiff forced a vote last month on Trump’s strikes in the Caribbean, only Paul and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined Democrats in voting to limit the president’s hostilities. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman joined other Republicans in opposing the measure.

It’s not clear any minds have changed since then. Many Republican lawmakers said Monday that they remain supportive of Trump’s actions. Sen. Rick Scott said he believes Venezuelan leader Maduro’s time is running out.

“I think Maduro is going to leave. His days are numbered,” he said.

When asked whether the goal was to target drug networks or oust Maduro, Scott replied, “Narco-terrorists, but he’s the head of it. He’s not the president. He lost the election.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama framed the confrontation as part of a broader fight against drug trafficking rather than a traditional war.

“They’re killing us without shooting a shot,” he said. “We’ve been sitting back taking it. Now it’s time to stop it, and that’s what he’s doing.”

Tuberville said the United States should act if Americans are being harmed, and added that the goal “could be both” targeting narcotics networks and ousting Maduro.

Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said he plans to vote against Kaine’s renewed War Powers measure, calling it “unfortunate at this time.” He also noted that regime change “wouldn’t be the first time we’ve done” such an operation, referencing the U.S.’s intervention in Panama, and said that Trump “has more intel than I do.”

Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters he feels confident in the level of communication with the White House. Risch declined to provide details on the plan but said the committee has been kept up to date — a contrast with Democrats who say they have yet to receive formal briefings on the scope of the operation.

“We’ve been fully informed from the beginning by the entire administration, including the president himself,” he said.

With U.S. aircraft and warships already on alert, the debate over how far to go may soon move from hypothetical to immediate.

Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he hopes the situation does not escalate into direct military action.

“I think they’re considering it, but hopefully it won’t come to that,” he said.

Rounds said that Trump “did not seem to have a direct plan” to strike Venezuela, adding that the president only described it “as an option.”

“I don’t believe that he said he was going to do it,” Rounds said, referencing Trump’s “60 Minutes” interview.