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The Senate suddenly remembers war powers [1]

['Jason Weisberger']

Date: 2026-01-08  

The U.S. Senate voted to limit further military action in Venezuela, abruptly recalling that Congress has a role in authorizing war when unrestrained presidential force is no longer a politically safe default for members seeking re-election.

For years, GOP senators treated expansive executive war powers as a treat, something to applaud so long as the orders came from the right desk. This week's vote suggests that calculation is changing. Not because war suddenly became unpopular, but because blind obedience is increasingly looking dangerous to their electability.

The largely symbolic resolution passed by a vote of 52 to 47. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting it. The measure marked the first time during the second Trump administration that Congress has voted to constrain the president's expansive use of the military to conduct foreign policy. Republicans have mostly cheered the attack to oust Maduro, but some have since signaled that a sustained military presence in Venezuela would require their approval — a rebuke of the president's threat of an open-ended military commitment. "A drawn-out campaign in Venezuela involving the American military, even if unintended, would be the opposite of President Trump's goal of ending foreign entanglements," Sen. Todd Young (R-Indiana), who supported the measure, said in a statement. Republicans in the House and Senate previously defeated four war powers resolutions seeking to limit the Trump administration's use of deadly force in Venezuela or in the waters off Latin America, where the U.S. military has killed more than 100 people by striking alleged drug-trafficking boats. Washington Post



The House has already shown what this phase looks like. Republicans are announcing retirements and exits at a pace that suggests they no longer believe proximity to Trump guarantees safety at the ballot box. Senators, with longer timelines and more to lose, are moving more cautiously, but they are moving nonetheless. Framed as a war powers issue, this is a hedge against appearing to be complicit as the lame duck goes mad.

War powers do not suddenly matter. Getting re-elected does.

Previously:

• Cook's books 'Ducks: And How To Make Them Pay' not about revenge

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