Senator Tim Kaine stated, 'If anyone were doing to the United States what we are doing to Cuba, we would definitely regard it as an act of war.' He emphasized that U.S. actions against Cuba, including blocking fuel shipments, constitute military engagement.
Backlash is continuing to grow after US House Democratic leaders made the decision to push off a war powers vote on President Donald Trump's Iran war for more than two weeks, even though they may have the votes to pass it immediately.
Young was promised that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would appear before the Foreign Relations Committee in a public hearing after next week's recess and assured that the administration will come to Congress first if U.S. military forces are needed in Venezuela, he said. He cited his talks with Rubio as influential in his decision. "To have the secretary of state be at my disposal - really, I mean, countless phone conversations and text exchanges - was very reassuring to me," he told reporters.
Trump laid into the five Republicans who backed the measure, posting on Truth Social shortly after the vote that "Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America." Collins, Murkowski, Paul, Hawley, and Young "should never be elected to office again," Trump added.
The distinction, which some legal scholars dispute, determines what legal constraints apply, including the War Powers Resolution and the Geneva Conventions, which might protect Maduro as a prisoner of war. President Trump has threatened a second strike, and administration officials have suggested the campaign may notstop in Venezuela. The big picture: The overnight raidfollowed months of U.S.strikes on alleged "narco-terrorists" that killed dozens, along with seizures of vessels carrying Venezuelan oil.
Senate Republicans voted down legislation Wednesday that would have put a check on Donald Trump's ability to use deadly military force against drug cartels after Democrats tried to counter the administration's extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers to destroy vessels in the Caribbean. The vote fell mostly along party lines, 48-51, with two Republicans, Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, voting in favor and the Democrat John Fetterman voting against.
I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict, Kaine told NBC News.
