Senate Republicans vote down legislation to check Trump’s use of war powers against cartels
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voted down legislation Wednesday that would have put a check on President 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, Sens. Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, voting in favor and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman voting against.
It was the first vote in Congress on Trump’s military campaign, which according to the White House has so far destroyed four vessels, killed at least 21 people and stopped narcotics from reaching the U.S.. The war powers resolution would have required the president to seek authorization from Congress before further military strikes on the cartels.
The Trump administration has asserted that drug traffickers are armed combatants threatening the United States, creating justification to use military force. But that assertion has been met with some unease on Capitol Hill.
Some Republicans are asking the White House for more clarification on its legal justification and specifics on how the strikes are conducted, while Democrats insist they are violations of U.S. and international law. It’s a clash that could redefine how the world’s most powerful military uses lethal force and set the tone for future global conflict.
The White House had indicated Trump would veto the legislation, and even though the Senate vote failed it gave lawmakers an opportunity to go on the record with their objections to Trump’s declaration that the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
“It sends a message when a significant number of legislators say, ‘Hey, this is a bad idea,'” said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who pushed the resolution alongside Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.
Wednesday’s vote was brought under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was intended to reassert congressional power over the declaration of war.
“Congress must not allow the executive branch to become judge, jury and executioner,” Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has long pushed for greater congressional oversight of war powers, said during a floor speech.
Paul was the only Republican to publicly speak in favor of the resolution before the vote, but a number of GOP senators have questioned the strikes on vessels and said they are not receiving enough information from the administration.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, acknowledged “there may be some concern” in the Republican conference about the strikes. However, Republican leaders argued against the resolution on the Senate floor Wednesday, calling it a political ploy from Democrats.
“People were attacking our country by bringing in poisonous substances to deposit into our country that would have killed Americans,” said Sen. Jim Risch, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Fortunately most of those drugs are now at the bottom of the ocean.”
Risch thanked Trump for his actions and added that he hoped the military strikes would continue.
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee received a classified briefing last week on the strikes, and Cramer said he was “comfortable with at least the plausibility of their legal argument.” But he added that no one representing intelligence agencies or the military command structure for Central and South America was present for the briefing.
“I’d be more comfortable defending the administration if they shared the information,” he said.