House Republicans barely defeat Venezuela war powers resolution to check
Trump’s military actions
[January 23, 2026]
By STEPHEN GROVES
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House rejected a Democratic-backed resolution
Thursday that would have prevented President Donald Trump from sending
U.S. military forces to Venezuela after a tied vote on the legislation
fell just short of the majority needed for passage.
The tied vote was the latest sign of Republican House Speaker Mike
Johnson's tenuous hold on the majority, as well as some of the growing
pushback in the GOP-controlled Congress to Trump's aggressions in the
Western Hemisphere. A Senate vote on a similar resolution was also tied
last week until Vice President JD Vance broke the deadlock.
To defeat the resolution Thursday, Republican leaders had to hold the
vote open for more than 20 minutes while Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt,
who had been out of Washington all week campaigning for a Senate seat in
Texas, rushed back to Capitol Hill to cast the decisive vote.
On the House floor, Democrats responded with shouts that Republican
leaders were violating the chamber's procedural rules. Two Republicans —
Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Thomas Massie of Kentucky — voted with
all Democrats for the legislation.
The war powers resolution would have directed Trump to remove U.S.
troops from Venezuela. The Trump administration told senators last week
that there are no U.S. troops on the ground in the South American nation
and committed to getting congressional approval before launching major
military operations there.
But Democrats argued that the resolution is necessary after the U.S.
raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and since Trump has
stated plans to control the country's oil industry for years to come.
The response to Trump’s foreign policy
Thursday's vote was the latest test in Congress of how much leeway
Republicans will give a president who campaigned on removing the U.S.
from foreign entanglements but has increasingly reached for military
options to impose his will in the Western Hemisphere. So far, almost all
Republicans have declined to put checks on Trump through the war powers
votes.
Rep. Brian Mast, the Republican chair of the House Armed Services
Committee, accused Democrats of bringing the war powers resolution to a
vote out of “spite” for Trump.
“It’s about the fact that you don’t want President Trump to arrest
Maduro, and you will condemn him no matter what he does, even though he
brought Maduro to justice with possibly the most successful law
enforcement operation in history,” Mast added.
Still, Democrats stridently argued that Congress needs to assert its
role in determining when the president can use wartime powers. They have
been able to force a series of votes in both the House and Senate as
Trump, in recent months, ramped up his campaign against Maduro and set
his sights on other conflicts overseas.
“Donald Trump is reducing the United States to a regional bully with
fewer allies and more enemies,” Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on
the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a floor debate. “This
isn't making America great again. It’s making us isolated and weak.”
Last week, Senate Republicans were only able to narrowly dismiss the
Venezuela war powers resolution after the Trump administration persuaded
two Republicans to back away from their earlier support. As part of that
effort, Secretary of State Marco Rubio committed to a briefing next week
before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
[to top of second column]
|
People rally as Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado
meets with President Donald Trump at the White House Thursday, Jan.
15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Yet Trump's insistence that the U.S. will possess Greenland over the
objections of Denmark, a NATO ally, has alarmed some Republicans on
Capitol Hill. They have mounted some of the most outspoken
objections to almost anything the president has done since taking
office.
Trump this week backed away from military and tariff threats against
European allies as he announced that his administration was working
with NATO on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security.
But Bacon still expressed frustration with Trump's aggressive
foreign policy and voted for the war powers resolution even though
it only applies to Venezuela.
“I'm tired of all the threats,” he said.
Trump's recent military actions — and threats to do more — have
reignited a decades-old debate in Congress over the War Powers Act,
a law passed in the early 1970s by lawmakers looking to claw back
their authority over military actions.
The war powers debate
The War Powers Resolution was passed in the Vietnam War era as the
U.S. sent troops to conflicts throughout Asia. It attempted to force
presidents to work with Congress to deploy troops if there hasn't
already been a formal declaration of war.
Under the legislation, lawmakers can also force votes on legislation
that directs the president to remove U.S. forces from hostilities.
Presidents have long tested the limits of those parameters, and
Democrats argue that Trump in his second term has pushed those
limits farther than ever.
The Trump administration left Congress in the dark ahead of the
surprise raid to capture Maduro. It has also used an evolving set of
legal justifications to blow up alleged drug boats and seize
sanctioned oil tankers near Venezuela.
Democrats question who gets to benefit from Venezuelan oil
licenses
As the Trump administration oversees the sale of Venezuela's
petroleum worldwide, Senate Democrats are also questioning who is
benefiting from the contracts.
In one of the first transactions, the U.S. granted Vitol, the
world's largest independent oil broker, a license worth roughly $250
million. A senior partner at Vitol, John Addison, gave roughly $6
million to Trump-aligned political action committees during the
presidential election, according to donation records compiled by
OpenSecrets.
“Congress and the American people deserve full transparency
regarding any financial commitments, promises, deals, or other
arrangements related to Venezuela that could favor donors to the
President’s campaign and political operation,” 13 Democratic
senators wrote to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles Thursday in
a letter led by Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.
The White House has said it is safeguarding the South American
country's oil for the benefit of both the people of Venezuela and
the U.S.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
