Venezuela

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. President, for months, the Trump administration claimed that its campaign of blowing up boats in the Caribbean was about stopping drugs like deadly fentanyl coming to the United States-- never mind that fentanyl doesn't really come from Venezuela; it comes from precursors made in China and is predominantly smuggled in through Mexico; never mind that there are well-established, well-practiced operations for interdicting the drugs and apprehending alleged drug traffickers, not killing them; never mind that we don't even have clarity on what was on these boats or who was on these boats and where they were headed. No. Even as the U.S. military amassed unprecedented military firepower off the coast of Caracas that included multiple warships, thousands of troops, and the largest aircraft carrier ever put to sea, the administration still claimed this was about drug boats.

You heard the administration say that time and time again to the public and to Congress until last weekend when the objective became clear: This was about Venezuela's oil, and if we could have that, we would leave the drug-running regime in place, albeit with its No. 2 corrupt leader instead of its No. 1, Nicolas Maduro.

The rightful leadership of Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado and her election surrogate Edmundo Gonzalez--the ones who won the last election there--would have no place, no role in the new government because this was no more about democracy than it was about drugs. It was about oil.

Just yesterday, the Secretary of Energy said that the United States intended to maintain significant control over Venezuela's oil industry, including by overseeing the sale of the country's production indefinitely--indefinitely--and Donald Trump has promised to use the revenue from these oil sales to create a fund that he would control. He is literally meeting with oil executives on Friday to try to divide up the spoils of this military campaign.

Now, some of my colleagues may believe that using the U.S. military to depose Nicolas Maduro and seize Venezuela's oil is well worth the risk to our troops and the danger of our becoming mired down in that country. I disagree, but if that were the case, let them seek an authorization from Congress to do so.

We have so many urgent problems that need addressing here at home with life being barely affordable for millions of Americans and the cost of living rising--with people struggling to cover the rent, with families barely able to afford the cost of groceries, to say nothing of the skyrocketing healthcare costs. But now, instead of putting Americans first, we are stepping into a foreign nation and promising to run it for the foreseeable future. An administration that had promised to end foreign wars has begun a new one. A President who had decried the use of force for regime change or to engage in nation building has just committed our country to both.

No doubt Russia and China see opportunity in this American about- face, with Russia to indict Ukrainian leaders and to seize them and with China to do the same in Taiwan. We are not only at risk of reestablishing the idea that might makes right and military conquest is acceptable in your sphere of influence, but there is the very real prospect of destabilizing a world order post-World War II that has made us safer and more prosperous.

Now, when it comes to Congress's role in checking this President, in asserting its war powers given to us by our Founders and the Framers of our Constitution, if we do not assert this power, we will lose it and not just to constrain this President but any President and for all time. The American people have said clearly and repeatedly they do not want us dragged into new foreign wars, especially wars of our own making, and we have the power to make good on that instruction. We are a coequal branch of government and the only branch endowed with the power of the purse and the power to declare war or to refuse to do so.

But if we do not assert these powers, if we don't stand up not just for our branch of government but for the American people, there is no telling and no stopping what comes next because the administration has made it clear that Venezuela is the opening salvo. Will it be Cuba next or Colombia or Mexico or Greenland, for crying out loud?

This is the moment when we need to stand up and exercise our powers as part of the government that is closest to the people to make it clear that no President can commit our military forces absent an attack on our country or imminent threat of an invasion without the approval of Congress and certainly not to help industry chase new profits or revenue in oil or minerals around the globe. We have a duty to our constituents, to our Constitution, and to posterity. Let us uphold it. Vote yes on the resolution.

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