Two Republicans who helped move a Trump war powers rebuke forward last week helped doom the measure on Wednesday. Sens. Josh Hawley and Todd Young of Indiana reversed course Wednesday on a bipartisan resolution that would have barred President Trump from using US forces "within or against" Venezuela without congressional approval, the Hill reports. Their switch gave GOP leaders the votes they needed to sustain a procedural objection from Republican Sen. Jim Risch, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee. The Senate deadlocked 50–50, and Vice President JD Vance hustled to the Capitol to cast the tie-breaker, killing the measure.
The measure was advanced in a 52-47 vote last week. The about-face came after Trump publicly blasted Hawley, Young, and three other Republicans—Sens. Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins—for initially helping advance the resolution out of committee. Trump urged voters on social media to oust the five, accusing them of trying to strip him of authority "to fight and defend the United States of America," and later singled out Young in a Tuesday speech at the Detroit Economic Club. Behind the scenes, Trump phoned each senator, with one GOP colleague describing his call to Collins as a profanity-filled scolding.
Hawley and Young said they changed their stance after assurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that no US troops are currently in Venezuela and that the administration would seek congressional authorization before any major operation there. Young said he'd obtained a letter from the administration pledging to come to Congress ahead of large-scale military action, and Hawley cited similar guarantees. Paul, who stuck with the resolution, called the issue "one of the most important debates of the last seven decades." He said he told Trump: "This debate is bigger than me, bigger than him. It's about the Constitution."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the measure's key backers, said it was necessary to limit Trump's powers, NBC News reports. "The American people don't want Donald Trump sending our troops into harm's way without so much as a debate in Congress," the Democrat said. Trump, he said, "is turning the Caribbean into a dangerous powder keg—and Congress must rein him in before one mistake ignites a larger, more unstable conflict. So, the Senate needs to exert its constitutional role when it comes to the use of military force."
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