The US Senate on Thursday advanced a bipartisan war powers resolution to prevent Donald Trump from taking further military actions against Venezuela, after he ordered a weekend raid to capture that country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, without giving Congress advance notice.

The measure passed with 52 senators in favor and 47 opposed. All Democrats voted for the resolution , as did Republicans Rand Paul, Todd Young, Lisa Murkowski, Josh Hawley and Susan Collins.

Should the Senate approve the measure, it will need to pass the House and be signed by Trump.

The war powers resolution, introduced by the Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, requires Trump to seek permission before attacking or otherwise using the military against Venezuela. Following the Saturday raid that saw US special forces assault the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and spirit Maduro to New York City to face trial on charges related to “narco-terrorism”, the president said he did not tell lawmakers beforehand because “Congress has a tendency to leak”.

    • samus12345@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      Should the Senate approve the measure, it will need to pass the House and be signed by Trump.

      No way there will be enough Republicans in Congress to make it veto-proof.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    1 day ago

    Ironically, this is shaping up like Reagan’s Iran-Contra Scandal.

    Congress forbid the Reagan administration from interfering in the Nicaraguan elections and government, but the Republicans didn’t want to obey. So they secretly sold weapons to our bitterest enemies, the Iranians (who had recently held dozens of American hostages for over a year), using the profits to fund and operate a secret war in Nicaragua. Republicans are proud of that treason, and George HW Bush pardoned everyone involved, on the advice of Bill Barr, the Republicans’ designated presidential cover-up man.

    Side note: since they used known drug smugglers to smuggle the guns OUT of America, and to Central America, the drug runners would find themselves in Cocaine HQ, with an empty plane, a fistful of American cash, and CIA cover. What do you think they did?

    Yep, they loaded up their planes with fresh cocaine, and flew it back to the United States, over and over and over, kicking off the crack cocaine epidemic that still exists today. This is no conspiracy theory, it is a known fact, ever since pilot Eugene Hassenfuss’ plane crashed and he claimed CIA immunity.

    It’s still debated how much the CIA knew about the drugs (they HAD to know, nobody is that stupid), or if they were deliberately involved in the smuggling because they wanted the profits from the cocaine sales to keep funding their illegal operation. Dumping drugs into America’s inner cities, while creating profits to fight commies? For a psychopath, like ALL Republicans, that sounds like an elegant solution to two problems at once.

    Trump wants that oil, so he can be as rich as his friends the Saudis. Does anyone honestly believe that a mere law passed by Congress is going to stop him? The only difference between this and Iran-Contra is that he will do this right out in the open, in defiance of Congress. He’ll just get the oil companies to put up the money to pay for it, and they’ll do it, and he’ll claim that was his workaround. Since Congress isnt paying for it, they don’t get a say.

    But we’ll pay for it anyway, and he’ll just pocket whatever money he extorts from the oils companies.

    • Pup Biru@aussie.zone
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      1 day ago

      hell even just add NATO, EU, Canada, Mexico, and Panama to the list… prevent a problem for once

    • 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      It’s political theatre, they actually like what happened and now want to make a feel-good namesake so they can pretend to be upset and say they “stopped” something.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    Normally, this would die in Congress, but they recently had a MAGA Rep assume room temperature, and another old geezer MAGA got mangled in an accident, so they only have a one or two vote lead. All it would take would be a couple of Reps out of over 400 to flip, and it passes.

    Of course, then Trump would refuse to sign it, and there probably isn’t the votes to override the veto.

    Then again, the Midterms is looking like a bloodbath, and these guys are starting to think about self-preservation. Once the Epstein Files Release looked like it was sure to pass by a single vote, they all jumped on board, and even Trump was forced to publicly endorse it (heh-heh). If Trump’s veto looks like it’s going to hurt them in November, enough might crossover to override.

  • DupaCycki@lemmy.world
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    Should the Senate approve the measure, it will need to pass the House and be signed by Trump.

    The war powers resolution, introduced by the Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, requires Trump to seek permission before attacking or otherwise using the military against Venezuela.

    So basically, they’re asking Trump if he can block Trump from acting without permission?

  • TeoTwawki@piefed.world
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    2 days ago

    Excuse me wtf, we already had rules for this exact thing that apply well beyond just Venezuela and this is just avoiding enforcement.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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      The enforcement of the executive comes almost exclusively from people in the executive refusing to follow their orders. If the Supreme Court says “the War Powers Act applies, duh” it still won’t mean anything unless the military refuses to do the wars. Congress saying it or the SC ruling it is just an effort to get them to do that.

        • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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          2 days ago

          They can call it a ballet, it doesn’t make it one, and the human soldiers who will be on the hook for following illegal orders won’t be protected because of it.

    • iamthetot@piefed.ca
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      2 days ago

      Well, presumably he wouldn’t. But a Trump veto can actually be overridden by Congress. Additionally, a law passing both houses of Congress but being vetoed by the president sends a message to the people as well.

      By the way, this is how it’s all supposed to work in a functioning democracy. But USA doesn’t have that so rules are out the window.

      • Rolder@reddthat.com
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        2 days ago

        Congress could override but they would need a 2/3rds majority and good fuckin luck with that

          • Rolder@reddthat.com
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            2 days ago

            Republicans probably had insider info that the files would be censored to the point of being useless

          • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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            2 days ago

            If they can only muster 52 senators for the first pass there is no chance in hell it will gain more votes to override a veto.

            • cattywampas@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              Hey, 17 Republicans in the House just broke with the party line to vote to extend ACA subsidies. So again, there’s always hope!

              • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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                1 day ago

                Not really.

                There have been 112 veto overrides in all of US history. They are pretty rare and only happen on bills that have broad support. Getting enough votes for a simple majority is orders of magnitude easier than a super-majority.

  • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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    2 days ago

    Interesting that most republicans voted against this but didn’t filibuster. Speaks to their impotent terror of disobeying the Trump administration. They are truly pathetic.

    • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@reddthat.com
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      It won’t get signed even if it passes the house and there’s not enough votes to overturn a veto. So, why even bother filibuster? If there was enough votes to overturn a veto, then they’d just be able to end the filibuster too.

      • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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        Because it looks bad for the Administration. If they were 100% trying to protect him I think the best move strategically is to filibuster. I interpret this as they don’t support Trump’s military abuses but they’re too scared to actually vote against it.

        However it’s possible there is some other explanation I’m missing.

  • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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    Congress, you have a choice, assert your powers, you know the ones you have had since November 7, 1973. Or give in, give up, and go home. Your constituents have put you in the position, as a co-equal branch, to restrain The Executive Branch. Do your JOB!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution

    "The War Powers Resolution (also known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act) (50 U.S.C. ch. 33) is a federal law intended to check the U.S. president’s power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. The resolution was adopted in the form of a United States congressional joint resolution. It provides that the president can send the U.S. Armed Forces into action abroad only by Congress’s “statutory authorization”, or in case of “a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces”. "

  • Komodo Rodeo@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Should the Senate approve the measure, it will need to pass the House and be signed by Trump.

    Well, that was a great idea, it’s a good thing that the person it’s designed to rein in can’t simply nullify it with the stroke of a pen, right? /s

    jump shots bipartisan War Powers resolution into trash from across Senate floor

  • garth@sh.itjust.works
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    Meaningless legislative theater. It’ll never pass the House. If it did Trump wouldn’t sign it. And even if those things magically happened, the scope is too narrow. Congress needs to take back its constitutional war powers that it’s ceded to the executive branch long ago.