WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, advanced a resolution seeking to limit U.S. President Donald Trump’s authority to take further military action against Venezuela.
The measure would require, according to the resolution, “the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress.”
The vote was 52-47, with five Republican senators joining all Democrats in support of the measure. A Senate floor vote is expected to pass the resolution next week.
The move came days after the Trump administration launched a large-scale military strike in Venezuela on Jan. 3 and forcibly the detained President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, later transferring them to custody in New York.
The action drew worldwide condemnation and concern.
Criticism
Trump criticized the move on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“This vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,” Trump wrote. “In any event, and despite their ‘stupidity,’ the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me.”
He added that the five Republican senators who voted with Democrats “should never be elected to office again.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, introduced the resolution last month following reports that U.S. forces killed two people who survived an initial U.S. boat strike in the Caribbean on Sept. 2, 2025.
The legislation was co-sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Adam Schiff.
“The indication from the administration (is) that this is not a few days or a few weeks, it’s likely a few years of U.S. occupation and involvement in this country,” Kaine said Wednesday on the Senate floor.
“This is not an arrest warrant. This is far bigger than that,” the Democratic senator said, referring to the U.S. raid to take Maduro by force.
“Make no mistake, bombing another nation’s capital and removing their leader is an act of war, plain and simple,” Senator Paul, the resolution’s lone Republican co-sponsor, said. “No provision in the Constitution provides such power to the presidency.”
“I believe invoking the War Powers Act at this moment is necessary, given the President’s comments about the possibility of ‘boots on the ground’ and a sustained engagement ‘running’ Venezuela, with which I do not agree,” Sen. Susan Collins said in a statement.
Republican defense
However, many Republican lawmakers defended the Trump administration’s military action, though the White House neither informed Congress in advance nor sought its approval. They argued the boat strikes and the raid on Maduro were well within the president’s constitutional authority.
Trump on Wednesday evening, Jan. 7, told The New York Times that the United States expects to run Venezuela and extract oil from its vast reserves for years. Asked how long the United States would remain Venezuela’s political overlord, Trump said, “I would say much longer.”
The international community expressed deep shock at the Trump administration’s raid on Maduro. Multiple countries have issued statements strongly condemning the U.S.’s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and action against its president, which is widely believed to have violated international law. / XINHUA