Nothing speaks more eloquently of the disempowering of the US Congress under Donald Trump’s second presidency than the brazenly audacious detention of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia. In one fell swoop, the capture appeared to render the 1973 War Powers Resolution obsolete, if not an outright work of fiction. Similarly, the deployment of a vast military force off Venezuela, including the largest US aircraft carrier, was carried out without seeking authorization. Duss contrasted Lee’s supine stance with his previous actions, when he jointed Sanders to support a war powers resolution aimed at restricting US support for Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen during Trump’s first term. “That is a situation unfortunately that I think the framers of the constitution did not really anticipate,” he said.

Source: The Guardian January 05, 2026 02:16 UTC