Sen. Tim Kaine has said he stands ready to reintroduce a similar resolution in the Senate.
Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) introduced a bipartisan war powers resolution on Dec. 1, directing the president to remove the U.S military from hostilities within or against Venezuela that Congress has not authorized.
“Donald Trump claimed he would put America first—instead he’s trying to drag us into an illegal war in Venezuela,” McGovern said in a Dec. 2 statement.
McGovern’s resolution was introduced under the War Powers Resolution of 1973. The measure is privileged and should receive consideration in the House, his office said.
The ranking member cited President Donald Trump’s potential action against Venezuela following the president’s declaration that the airspace “above and surrounding Venezuela” should be considered closed.
Earlier on Dec. 2, Trump threatened that U.S. military strikes on Venezuela would begin “very soon.” The president did not provide further details but has, in recent weeks, indicated a willingness to transition from strikes against what he called “narco-terrorists” at sea to strikes on land.
“Whatever this is about, it has nothing to do with stopping drugs,” McGovern said, pointing to Trump’s pardoning of Ross Ulbricht, founder of online black marketplace Silk Road, and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted by a U.S. jury on drug trafficking and firearms convictions.
“To me, this appears to be all about creating a pretext for regime change. And I believe Congress has a duty to step in and assert our constitutional authority. No more illegal boat strikes, and no unauthorized war in Venezuela.”
Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) co-sponsored the effort.
Castro said Trump had put the United States on “the brink of a war with Venezuela” without a debate or vote in Congress.
“This resolution will ensure that every member of the House is on the record about sending service members to a war that Americans do not want,” he said.
Massie said the Constitution does not allow the executive branch to “unilaterally commit an act of war against a sovereign nation that hasn’t attacked the United States,” and only Congress has the sole power to declare war.
“Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution,” he added.
By Melanie Sun
