Republicans are growing uneasy about President Donald Trump’s escalations against Venezuela.
The president announced the seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker off the South American country’s coast Wednesday, and Democratic and Republican lawmakers have called for the administration to seek congressional approval for any military operations as Trump escalates the conflict, reported Punchbowl News.
“They need to come to Congress and say what they’re doing,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). “We don’t know what’s going on. Nobody knows what the mission is in Venezuela.”
“The president’s made zero case — and his team — for what they’re doing in Venezuela,” added Bacon, who is retiring at the end of his term.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who has co-sponsored a resolution calling for congressional approval for military operations against Venezuela, said the oil tanker seizure heightened the importance of securing a vote on the matter this month.
“It’s a bipartisan effort, I think, to say, ‘No, we are not just unilaterally letting him declare a war on Venezuela,’” Jayapal said.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is among the Republicans who back the measure, and he said the administration has not been truthful about the conflict.
“I don’t think it’s ever really been about the drugs,” Massie said. “They’re in front of their skis right now.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast (R-FL) is seeking a briefing from the administration on the matter but was generally supportive of the campaign, saying he was “not in the slightest” bit worried about the escalation.
“In fact, I encourage using our Article II authority,” Mast said.
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) co-authored a separate war powers resolution of targeting terrorist organizations in the Western Hemisphere, and he expressed concerns about escalating the conflict without congressional approval.
“This is how conflicts start and how they tumble out of control,” Crow said.
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