Lawmakers rejected House Democrats’ attempt to rein in President Trump’s pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro with a pair of war powers votes on Wednesday, marking a win for the president’s crusade against the narcoterrorist regime.
The House shot down two separate war powers resolutions to block additional military action without Congress’ explicit OK — one aimed at pulling US forces out of any conflict with Venezuelan forces, and another insisting that any new land offensive must be approved by Congress first.
The votes signal the GOP-led House won’t put legislative brakes on Trump — a day after the president declared the Caracas government a “foreign terrorist organization” and announced a “total and complete blockade” of the oil imports and exports.
Under US law, Congress can use the War Powers Act to check the president’s unilateral power to commit the country to US conflict without the legislative branch’s consent — as the Constitution holds that only Congress has the ability to declare war.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) defeated bill would have removed US troops “from hostilities with any presidentially designated terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere” without lawmakers’ authorization. It failed 210-216, with two Republicans voting with Democrats.
Rep. Jim McGovern’s (D-Mass.) bill — which would have barred the US military to carry out attacks within or against Venezuela — failed 211-213 despite three Republicans supporting it.
Trump on Tuesday said he made the terrorist designation and issued the blockade because “America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets” in a Truth Social post.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump further chided. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
Trump’s latest steps came after the US military has killed 95 narcoterrorists trafficking drugs in the waters outside Venezuela in more than two dozen strikes since September — and as 11 US warships and 15,000 troops are deployed to the region.
While the administration’s initial justification centered on the need to fight drug trafficking stemming from Venezuela and fight criminal gangs from entering the United States, Trump has recently gotten more explicit about his pursuit of regime change.
“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping,” Trump said in his Truth Social post explaining his latest actions.
On Wednesday, Trump again honed in on oil as a reason for the blockade.
“They took our oil rights. We have a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out, and we want it back,” Trump told reporters.
But some of Trump’s allies on the matter say more military and economic pressure is needed to force out the dictator who stole the past two Venezuelan presidential elections and heads the narcoterrorist state.
“He’s going to be there until someone takes him out. They’re squeezing all the right pressure points, but [Maduro won’t leave] until there’s a little shock and awe,” a source close to the White House with insight into Venezuela told The Post.
The blockade announced Tuesday night represents the next step in that pursuit — cutting of Maduro’s resources — but the person did not believe it would be enough to make him step down.
The total blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers entering or leaving its ports could already be considered by some as an act of war under international law.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that the president’s early goal was to “keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
“People way smarter than me on that say that he will,” she said, according to the Tuesday report.
Still, she noted that the White House understood that should the president decide to carry out strikes on Venezuelan land — as he has repeatedly said would happen “soon” — he would need to get lawmakers’ support.
“If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress,” Wiles told Vanity Fair.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday defended Trump’s actions on Venezuela, saying the president is within his rights to act to protect American interests.
“It is certainly appropriate,” the Louisiana Republican told reporters. “It’s necessary to protect the United States and our interests.”
