The Senate rejected a Democratic-led effort Wednesday to block President Donald Trump from unilaterally ordering additional U.S. airstrikes on boats off the Venezuelan coast allegedly carrying drugs.
Democrats forced a vote in the GOP-controlled chamber under the War Powers Act on a resolution to require congressional authorization for future strikes, something the president says could expand to alleged foreign drug cartels on land. Trump has authorized four such strikes in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks.
The vote failed 48-51 and fell mostly along party lines, although several members cast votes across the aisle. A simple majority was required.
Nearly all Democrats voted in favor of the measure, led by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA). Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the lone Democrat to vote against it, while Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a libertarian, was the lone Republican to vote in favor.
In the hours leading up to the vote, Secretary of State Marco Rubio lobbied Senate Republicans behind closed doors to defeat the resolution and laid out the president’s authority to greenlight what he called “targeted strikes against imminent threats.”
“These drug trafficking organizations are a direct threat to the safety and security of the United States,” Rubio told reporters. “They unleash violence and criminality on our streets, fueled by the drugs and the drug profits that they make, and the president is the commander in chief, has an obligation to keep our country safe.”
TRUMP LOOKS TO PIVOT TO LAND DRUG TRAFFICKING AFTER DEADLY BOAT STRIKES
Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, blasted the administration for a lack of transparency and due process when determining whether to kill suspected drug-runners in international waters.
“There’s a one-in-four chance, statistically speaking, that one of these boats may not have had any drugs on it,” Paul said in floor remarks, citing statistics based on U.S. Coast Guard interdictions that do not turn up drugs. “We will never know because they were blown to smithereens.”
David Sivak contributed to this report.
