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Senate readies war powers vote to oppose Trump’s Venezuela threats
The Washington Post ^ | 11/05/2025 3:57 p.m. EST | Noah Robertson

Posted on 11/06/2025 3:18:54 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

It’s unclear whether the measure will pass after administration officials tried to reassure Republicans who signaled they may support the effort.

The Senate will vote Thursday on a bipartisan measure to block President Donald Trump from attacking Venezuelan territory in a new test of Republicans’ willingness to oppose his use of military force in Latin America.

It is unclear whether the largely symbolic effort will attract enough GOP support to pass, or whether a recent push by the administration to walk back Trump’s repeated threats of escalation has reassured those lawmakers who have suggested they might join the effort. On Wednesday, during a classified briefing for select members of Congress, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not indicate that the administration is preparing to target Venezuela directly or that it had a proper legal argument for doing so, according to people who attended the meeting.

“It’s as described: to stop the flow of drugs,” Rep. Jim Himes (Connecticut), the House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, told reporters afterward. “There is no apparent plans to expand this beyond what they say that they are doing.”

Since early September, Trump’s campaign of violence in the waters around Venezuela and Colombia has drawn fierce resistance from Democrats and legal experts. The killing to date of more than 65 people, they argue, violates the laws of war because the small boats being targeted are carrying civilians allegedly involved in the commercial sale of drugs, not armed attacks on U.S. citizens.

The Pentagon has flooded the region with warships, attack helicopters and high-end fighter jets, and Trump has said repeatedly in recent weeks that the operation against alleged drug smugglers would soon expand to encompass targets on land. Then, in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday,...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: colombia; connecticut; crime; districtofcolumbia; drugs; jimhimes; leftistsource; senate; smuggling; venezuela; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost

1 posted on 11/06/2025 3:18:54 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

We’ve done hundreds of hits. We are not at war...


2 posted on 11/06/2025 3:33:42 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Useless Rand Paul agrees


3 posted on 11/06/2025 3:37:20 PM PST by Fledermaus ("It turns out all we really needed was a new President!")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They want to limit our strikes to the Middle East and Ukraine.


4 posted on 11/06/2025 3:39:46 PM PST by alternatives?
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

So the dems are saying that civilians can smuggle killing drugs with impunity, only military smugglers are fair game on the open sea and can be taken out. These drugs are killing over 100k Americans yearly and its legal.


5 posted on 11/06/2025 3:40:15 PM PST by chopperk
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The U.S. Senate rejected a war powers resolution to preemptively block U.S. forces from conducting military operations against Venezuela on Thursday. Epochs Times


6 posted on 11/06/2025 3:47:39 PM PST by bosco24
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To: All

Weird that congress finally found a war they didn’t support.


7 posted on 11/06/2025 4:03:15 PM PST by escapefromboston (Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.)
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To: escapefromboston

Weird that congress finally found a war they didn’t support


Since all this news Maduro seems to become a tough man in public the last few days.


8 posted on 11/06/2025 4:07:06 PM PST by tsowellfan (...but what do I know...)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The DC scoundrels must still want their cut of the drug money that the cartels have been paying them for the past 30+ years. What else could it be?


9 posted on 11/06/2025 4:08:49 PM PST by drypowder
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

WHERE INSIDE CONGRESS ARE THEIR PACKETS OF COCAINE???


10 posted on 11/06/2025 4:13:32 PM PST by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Largely symbolic. Hopefully the administration will point out that the Democrats have time to do symbolism, but not real governing.


11 posted on 11/06/2025 4:46:53 PM PST by Dahoser (Liz Cheney needs to work on her soccer skills so she fits in when she transfers to Guantanamo High)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Our POS friggin Senate has gone over to the enemy illegal alien Venezuelan drug lords. America is screwed.


12 posted on 11/06/2025 7:16:48 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Another day of DemonRAT shutdown another great day for Chunky "Raw Cheeseburger" Schumer.)
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To: Fledermaus

“Rand Paul” = Curly Hair Dildo


13 posted on 11/06/2025 7:36:13 PM PST by Bikkuri
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To: escapefromboston
Looks like Congress is on the Cartels’ payrolls.
14 posted on 11/06/2025 7:39:04 PM PST by Chgogal (The NYT is the mouthpiece of the violent left-wing Democrat Party)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Enemies within


15 posted on 11/07/2025 3:37:55 AM PST by ronnie raygun
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