The Senate on Thursday advanced a bipartisan measure intended to block the Trump administration from conducting further military action in Venezuela, foreshadowing a rare assertion of Congress’s role in using lethal force after the stunning raid to apprehend the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. The Senate voted 52-47, with five Republicans joining all Democrats. Ask The Post AIDive deeperThursday’s vote revealed a red line even for some Senate Republicans who had previously doubted the likelihood that Trump would order a unilateral attack on Venezuela. Ahead of the vote, Democrats had accused the administration of blatantly misleading Congress and said their Republican colleagues were abandoning lawmakers’ authority to check U.S. use of lethal military force. “I think in the end he, like all of us, want to make sure that we have a Republican majority in the Senate,” Thune told reporters.

Source: Washington Post January 08, 2026 20:17 UTC