Bipartisan Measure to Restrict Trump’s War Powers Fails in Senate

The Washington Post

13:38 JST, October 9, 2025

A bipartisan measure to block the Trump administration’s lethal strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug smugglers fell short in the Senate on Wednesday night, in what Democratic lawmakers framed as a failure of Congress to assert its constitutional role to decide whether the country enters war.

In the past two months, the U.S. military has struck at least four boats in the Caribbean Sea, killing 21 people. The administration has claimed it is targeting “narco-terrorists” from notorious drug gangs in Venezuela, and President Donald Trump has notified Congress that the United States is now in “armed conflict” with these alleged traffickers.

Democratic lawmakers have pushed back, arguing that military officials in multiple classified briefings have not definitively identified the victims or explained why the military is using deadly force rather than the long-standing protocol of interdicting vessels at sea.

The Wednesday vote marked the most direct confrontation between lawmakers and the Trump administration over the strikes, which Democrats have called unconstitutional and some Republicans have privately worried may lack a legal basis.

“What we are doing is a very simple, straightforward resolution that just says, Congress, be Congress,” Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), one of the senators leading the measure, said during a news conference before the vote. “These military actions should stop unless authorized.”

The administration has escalated its campaign, sending U.S. Navy warships and military aircraft to the region, with Trump saying the attacks will continue and may broaden from “international waters” into direct strikes on Venezuelan land.

“The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations,” the administration’s notice to Congress states.

Democratic lawmakers have argued the Pentagon has not made a conclusive case for taking military action.

“I have no idea precisely the identities of who was on these ships, or even whether the administration knows their identities,” said Adam Schiff (D-California), another senator leading the vote.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) also criticized the strikes as “extrajudicial killings,” at times directly confronting administration officials.

“Is it too much to ask to know the names of those we kill before we kill them, to know what evidence exists of their guilt?” Paul said Wednesday on the Senate floor, calling the administration’s argument “madness.” Paul and one other Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, were the only two who broke with party lines to support the 48-to-51 motion at Wednesday’s vote. One Democrat, John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), voted against.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted Wednesday on X that the latest vessel struck by the U.S. military was from his country and carried Colombian citizens, running counter to the White House’s claims.

Lawmakers from both parties were visibly frustrated with the lack of information following briefings by Pentagon General Counsel Earl Matthews in recent weeks, according to senators and other people familiar with the matter.

“The sessions went very, very poorly,” said one person briefed on the meetings afterward, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the closed sessions. “He cut people off, and they cut him off,” the person said, noting that “swear words” were used.

The lawmakers’ frustration showed Tuesday at a public hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where the Trump administration’s nominee to be the Army’s general counsel declined to specify what groups the Pentagon now considered enemy combatants.

“We’ve never had an instance where there’s a secret list of what I understand to be dozens of now terrorist organizations that the American public and certainly the oversight committees don’t get to know,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) said.

In February, Trump designated eight groups as foreign terrorist organizations, including Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela-based gang that Trump has claimed is run by the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. A U.S. intelligence assessment has said that is not true, and experts have said that Tren de Aragua is not deeply involved in narcotics trafficking.

In September, more than half of the Senate’s Democratic caucus signed a letter requesting answers to a list of basic questions around the strikes – from who was on board the vessels to what military assets were involved in the attacks – in an effort to build a case against the operation. They never received a response from the White House, Kaine said.

“This resolution aims to strip President Trump of his constitutional authority to protect Americans by authorizing military strikes against narco-terrorists, the Houthis, and other Iranian proxies. This is dangerous – it puts our children, citizens, soldiers, and allies at risk,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), who voted against the resolution, told The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday that he was concerned about the strikes setting a dangerous precedent for U.S. adversaries.

“We can’t think about just what happened in our hemisphere,” he said. “What if China employs a similar strategy for people in international waters? We’ve got to be more careful of the global implications.”

Speaking before the resolution was introduced, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who voted for the motion, said he had not seen any legal justification for the four strikes that have happened. “I think it’s disturbing if the president can act as prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner,” he said.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) is leading a companion effort on the war powers resolution in the House, though a vote on his measure isn’t expected until after the government shutdown ends.