U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed the bill Thursday to stop the administration from starting a war with Venezuela as U.S. forces attacked another alleged drug boat. The move also comes after Trump earlier this week said he authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela and mused about potential strikes on land, statements that followed the fifth strike against an alleged drug-running vessel in the Caribbean.
The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., which the Senate would have to vote on within 10 days, would be the second that Kaine and Schiff have put forth to prevent a war.
Last week, a similar bill sponsored by Kaine and Schiff failed to pass the Senate, 48-51, even with the support of Paul and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, according to NPR.
"The American people do not want to be drawn into endless war with Venezuela without public debate or a vote," Paul told reporters. "We ought to defend what the Constitution demands -- deliberation before war."
Although a U.S. president has the power to defend the nation militarily during an imminent or current threat without first discussing their actions with Congress, the decision to declare war rests solely with the Congress, Paul, Kaine and other members of the body have pointed out.
The administration started a naval buildup off Venezuela's coast in late summer and has at least eight U.S. Navy surface warships -- four guided-missile destroyers, the three-vessel Iwo Jima amphibious ready group, a guided-missile cruiser and a littoral combat ship -- and a nuclear attack submarine in the area.
Although Trump has long accused Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Muduro, of emptying its prisons into the United States to sow chaos, the military build-up and actions are aimed at staunching the alleged flow of drugs from South America to the United States.
Venezuela has appealed to the United Nations to declare U.S. actions in the Caribbean illegal, with its ambassador condemning the strikes on boats off the nation's coast and repeating that the families of the deceased said their loved ones were fishing when they died.
"American diplomats know this is illegal," Samuel Moncada, Venezuelan ambassador to the United Natons told reporters on Thursday, calling the Trump administration's allegations "fabricated."
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