The United States Senate has voted 52-47 to advance a measure blocking President Donald Trump from unauthorized military action in Venezuela.
The bipartisan procedural vote, which invoked the War Powers Resolution, was led by Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Rand Paul. It requires the President to seek explicit Congressional approval before deploying U.S. forces for any further operations in the South American nation.
Okay News reports that the vote comes less than a week after the U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Five Republican senators—Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young—crossed party lines to support the measure. This provoked a sharp rebuke from President Trump, who took to Truth Social to declare that the dissenting senators “should never be elected to office again.”
Senator Rand Paul defended the move by citing the Constitution, stating that “bombing another nation’s capital and removing their leader is an act of war,” a power he argued belongs solely to Congress.
While the Trump administration contends the Maduro operation was a law enforcement action rather than war, the resolution signals strong legislative pushback against unilateral military engagement. The measure is expected to pass a final Senate vote before moving to the House of Representatives.
