Venezuela

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, early Saturday morning, as we all know, U.S. forces apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Both of them are now in U.S. custody.

First, I will say this: Maduro is a tyrant. Nobody mourns what has happened to him. Under his watch, the people of Venezuela have suffered immensely. But now the crucial question is, What comes next for Venezuela and, more importantly, for the United States?

Nobody really seems to know. The administration's story keeps changing by the hour. Even after Secretary Rubio spent all day Sunday trying to clean up Trump's mess, the President went right back to repeat that the United States will now apparently run Venezuela for a while.

On and on and on. No plan. No clarity. Only chaos.

Ironically and dangerously, the chaos Donald Trump has engendered in Venezuela leads him on, in his mind, to think he should try the same thing in Colombia, in Iran, and even in Greenland.

But the danger in Venezuela is only beginning. Donald Trump has opened a Pandora's box, and things can get out of hand very quickly. And if Donald Trump tries to do to Colombia and Greenland what he did to Venezuela, the disasters and consequences could compound exponentially, as bad as Venezuela alone is going to be. Whenever our country has gotten involved in this kind of regime change and nation building, American families pay the price in blood and in treasure. That is what happened in Iraq, for instance.

The American people did not sign up for this kind of military adventurism when they voted for Donald Trump. They wanted a President focused on America first, focused on lowering the cost of living, lowering healthcare costs, lowering grocery prices. Just like Donald Trump broke his promise to release the Epstein files, he is now breaking his promise to end American involvement in the endless wars.

I warn my Republican colleagues: The backlash from the MAGA base on the war in Venezuela will be swift, fierce, and thunderous, just like it was with the Epstein files. And if the Republicans go along with Donald Trump on Venezuela, Americans will pay the price in blood and in treasure, while Republicans could very well pay the price politically.

In the meantime, the next step for Congress is clear: We must stop Trump's folly by invoking the War Powers Act. Later this week, I will join Senator Kaine, Senator Schiff, and Senator Paul in forcing a vote on our War Powers Resolution, a bipartisan measure that will affirm Congress's authority on matters of war and peace when it comes to Venezuela. If there was ever a time for Republicans to step up to the plate and stand up not just for the authority of Congress but for our national security, our safety, that time is now.

Separately, this afternoon, leaders of the House and Senate will meet with senior administration officials to ask questions about what is going on in Venezuela--try to get to the bottom of it--and what the plan is moving forward. An all-Senators briefing is also being organized for later this week. I demanded these briefings immediately after the strike on Saturday.

The administration owes Congress and the American people some pretty basic answers to many important questions--most importantly: What the hell does Donald Trump mean when he says the United States now intends to ``run'' Venezuela? Does this mean we are now in the business of nation building Venezuela? Are we going to put troops on the ground? How many? Where? And how much will it cost? How long will this go on? These questions should be answered to the Congress and, more importantly, to the American people before the administration attempts anything akin to so-called running Venezuela.

Frankly, we also know why Senator Rubio misled Congress so blatantly over the past 4 months. On three occasions, I asked Rubio whether or not the administration was seeking regime change in Venezuela. Three times the answer was no. We never really believed him in the first place, to be candid. But if Secretary Rubio wasn't straight with us about Venezuela, what else is he not being straight with us about now? What else is he not being straight with the American people about now? For example, is an attack on Colombia now on the table? What about Iran or Greenland?

How is any of this putting America first? The simple answer is that it is not.

If you are a family of four in New York and your healthcare premiums just doubled on January 1, what are you supposed to think when you read in the paper that Donald Trump is spending billions attacking Venezuela? If you are struggling to keep a roof over your head, if you are falling behind on your mortgage payment, what are you supposed to think when Donald Trump says we are going to ``run'' Venezuela for a while?

The American people did not sign up for another round of endless wars. They want Donald Trump to focus on the problems here at home: on healthcare, on housing, on energy, on groceries. But Donald Trump's promise to keep us out of foreign entanglements is now as worthless as his promise to release the Epstein files.

He promises his base one thing on the campaign trail and does the exact opposite once he is in office, and it is the American people who will pay the price.

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