Removal of the Use of United States Forces for Hostilities Within or Against Venezuela

Floor Speech

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Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this resolution.

This resolution would prohibit the use of United States Armed Forces off the coast of Venezuela without regard for the real and growing threats posed by the foreign terrorist Maduro regime.

Let's be clear-eyed about the danger that we face. The Maduro regime is a designated foreign terrorist organization, a narcoterrorist state that collaborates with other foreign terrorist organizations and violent cartels to flood our hemisphere and our communities with deadly poison.

Venezuela has been taken over. The Venezuelan people are held hostage by a foreign terrorist regime that uses their land as an operating base for international drug trafficking, fueling a crisis that has cost nearly 400,000 Americans their lives since 2021.

This resolution would have us pull back from the fight against designated terrorist regimes and cartels in our own hemisphere, just miles from our shores. It tells the foreign terrorist regime in Venezuela and its criminal allies that Congress is willing to look the other way as hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to die every single year.

We must reject this resolution and send a clear message: The United States will confront narcoterrorist regimes in our hemisphere, stand with the Venezuelan people, and never surrender to terrorist regimes that threaten our security. Too many Americans have already paid with their lives because this threat was ignored.

For the sake of our national security, our communities, and the men and women in uniform who stand the line every day, I urge a ``no'' vote on this resolution. I thank my colleague for yielding me the time.

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