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”.
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”. "
That resolution was kneecapped by the Authorization for Use of Military Force after 9/11. Multiple presidents have treated it as a blank check to execute military actions around the world without congressional approval. Just call the targets “terrorists” (or “narco terrorists” now) and do anything without repercussions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_of_2001
So the updated war powers act under consideration is worth passing? We should all contact our reps.
It would be a (small) step in the right direction if it had any chance of becoming law. It’s a non-starter in the House, and Trump certainly wouldn’t sign it either.
I happen to appreciate any/all steps in the directions that move us away from war.
Is this a joke?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_wars_involving_the_United_States
No, not in the least. Do you think moving away from war, or suggesting that is a good direction is funny? It may surprise you to know that there is a Peace Movement that has existed in the US, and internationally, for longer than you or I have been alive.