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

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, it was only last month that we stood on this floor debating this same resolution. My colleagues across the aisle defended the administration's claim that unauthorized U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and threats against Venezuela were about what? Stopping drugs.

At that time, I asked a simple question. I asked--and never received an answer--if this was about drugs, why did the President pardon the former leader of Honduras, a convicted drug trafficker who bragged about shoving drugs up the noses of the gringos.

The administration's own actions have since made the truth absolutely clear: This was never about drugs.

The unauthorized January 3 operation was not conducted to address an imminent threat to the United States, nor to advance democracy in Venezuela. Donald Trump has abandoned even the pretense of national security.

He has been very explicit about what his intent is: We are there to take Venezuela's oil. That is what this was about.

He propped up Maduro's regime, praised Maduro's Vice President as a terrific person, and sidelined the democratic opposition, forcing Maria Corina Machado through the back door of the White House.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and Stephen Miller posture as viceroys of America's newest colony, while American taxpayers are on the hook to ensure Trump's oil baron friends are fed the spoils.

Guess what. There is no plan for what comes next. There is no plan to deal with the entrenched military and paramilitary forces spread across a country twice the size of Iraq. There is no plan if the so-called acting President refuses to serve as Trump's puppet, and no explanation of what the President means when he says he is ``not afraid of putting boots on the ground.''

Mr. Speaker, this administration is winging it and driving the United States headfirst into another open-ended foreign conflict that, as history has shown, is destined to backfire in years to come.

For those of my colleagues who deny this is warmongering, there is still a U.S. aircraft carrier parked in the Caribbean. Tens of thousands of young American men and women remain on standby. If the President wants to drag the United States into a war that the American people don't want--they don't want this--he must come to Congress first.

The debate belongs on this floor. We have all asked for what the cost has been and what the cost will be to the American people. There have been no answers to that either.

Let's be equally clear. Venezuela is not the end of this recklessness. In exchange for a rules-based system the United States built to extend our influence around the globe, Donald Trump is reducing the United States to a regional bully with fewer allies and more enemies. This isn't making America great again. It is making us isolated and weak.

Donald Trump's new world order is not new. It is the old logic of empires. Might makes right. The strong take from the weak. It is the same backwards worldview that Vladimir Putin uses in Ukraine and the same logic China will cite when it looks at Taiwan. We have seen where that road leads. It leads to endless conflict.

To my Republican colleagues, the American people want us to lower their cost of living, not enable war. Now is the time for my colleagues to stand by their oath of office and end this dangerous game before it is too late.

It is time for Congress to reclaim our Article I authority that the Constitution gave us and say that enough is enough. A President is not a king. He is not an emperor. Without an act of Congress, he cannot invade a nation and set us down the road of war.

Let us stand up and do our responsibilities. Let's see where Congress stands. Let's have a vote on this floor and see where the majority of the Members of the United States House of Representatives is. The people deserve to know.

Mr. Speaker, do you know what happened in the Senate? They had a vote. First, five Republicans joined Democrats, but in his general style, two of them were very threatened by the President and had to reverse their vote the next week.

We need to have the vote here and see if the courage that the five first showed and the three that continued to show, whether my colleagues on the other side are going to have the courage to stand up and do their jobs and make sure that the power that we have in the House of Representatives to oversee the executive branch and not just be a patsy to this executive branch exists.

The last time we were here, the chairman was talking all about drugs. Yet, today, I have not heard anything about drugs. The President said it was about drugs. That was the imminent threat to the United States, allegedly. We don't hear anything about drugs. We don't hear anything about democracy. All we hear about is oil and taking those resources.

The fact of the matter is, they talk about ``we are not at war.'' I know that an aircraft carrier is still sitting right there where we led the attack before, where the attack took place. I know there is a blockade taking place right now, so our military is still right off the shore of Venezuela.

I know that we want to make sure that we take care of our responsibility as Members of the House of Representatives and have the oversight and safety of the President, should he decide to strike again, come to the Congress first.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MEEKS. Wasserman Schultz), an individual who has truly been fighting for democracy for the Venezuelan people, who wants them to have the right to vote, an individual who has stood and is trying to keep their TPS status so they are not forced back into the regime of Maduro.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise in support of this resolution because I simply do not trust this President to truly prioritize democracy and the will of the Venezuelan people.

I represent one of the largest Venezuelan communities in the country. Many of my constituents fled brutal repression under Chavez and Maduro. Most of them were glad to see Maduro captured and face justice, and so was I.

Maduro is a murderous criminal who tortured, imprisoned, impoverished, and oppressed his people. He stole elections, jailed his opponents, drained his nation's wealth, and unleashed the largest peacetime refugee crisis in history.

Mr. Speaker, 8 million Venezuelans were driven into exile.

I was glad to see Maduro held accountable, and this resolution, as my colleague who just spoke, Mr. Diaz-Balart, would clearly know, would not preclude operations like the one that arrested him, especially if the administration finally does what they should have already done: come up with a day-after plan for democracy, present a coherent strategy to Congress, and make a case to the American people.

Arresting Maduro does not fix Venezuela because Maduro did not destroy Venezuela by himself. He relied on criminal affiliates who helped him cling to power. Delcy Rodriguez, Jorge Rodriguez, Diosdado Cabello, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, all of them share Maduro's guilt, but instead of being thrown in jail, they were left in charge.

The machinery of repression was left in place, and the democratic hopes of Venezuelans are being left behind.

My constituents who celebrated Maduro's capture are horrified to see President Trump normalize relations with the same regime that forced them to flee. This President must not make the U.S. complicit in the brutal repression of Venezuelans which continues today.

Yet, Trump continues to jeopardize the lives of lawful Venezuelan immigrants by forcing them back into the chaos after he terminated their TPS.

Trump has lavished praise on Maduro's hand-picked replacement, Delcy Rodriguez, who ran the regime's torture dungeons. Meanwhile, he has dismissed and demeaned Venezuela's democratic leaders like Maria Corina Machado and president-elect Edmundo Gonzalez.

In fact, President Trump hasn't said one word about seeking democracy or human rights in Venezuela.

If Congress backs military action, then democracy, stability, and safety for Venezuelans should be the objective. But those aren't President Trump's goals. He only speaks about getting a cut of the regime's oil sales and ignores their ongoing repression.

I have no illusions about the dangers this regime poses. I am open to the idea that military action may be needed to achieve democracy. If Trump truly cared about Venezuelan democracy, he has tools at his disposal. He has broad authority to defend our national security interests. He could employ covert action, enforce vigorous sanctions, support civil society groups on democracy's front lines, and take action, as he does, against cartels and narcoterrorists. He could use his ``tremendous leverage'' to push for elections in human rights because this resolution doesn't block any of that.

Instead, Trump is just seeking profits for the same Big Oil companies who propped up Maduro for years. He moved on his own with no plan for democracy, and he swapped out one dictator for another and declared mission accomplished.

My vote today isn't about the means that this President used to capture Maduro. Presidents should use the power they have to be tough on dictators who abuse their own people. But given his utter disdain for democracy and his callous disregard for the chaos and violence to which law-abiding Venezuelans are being deported, I simply cannot give this President a blank check to put troops on the ground.

For all we know, Trump plans to deploy troops to protect the regime's oil facilities, not to liberate Venezuelans. I have known Maria Corina Machado for years, but this week I was able to finally meet her in person for the first time. She is remarkable, inspiring, and I have total faith in her selfless dedication to bring Venezuela out of darkness. More importantly, Venezuelans have faith in her.

When she spoke, she discussed the essential momentum the democracy movement needs and the danger of allowing this lingering dictatorship to reinforce its grip on power. She told us conditions on the ground are dire, that we cannot allow the regime and the military militias to strengthen their hold on power.

Maria Corina has a vision to resurrect Venezuela, and there is a U.S. role to see it through. That is why it is so disturbing that her White House meeting ended with no firm commitments, no timeline for elections, and no guarantees from President Trump.

Instead of opening a pathway to democracy, this President is focused on opening offshore accounts to hoard Venezuelan oil money.

So I support this resolution because of my faith in Maria Corina Machado, not in spite of it. It is rooted in an ongoing commitment to standing resolutely with Venezuelans to demand an end to this illegal regime. It is aligned with my belief that a transition to democracy led by Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez must take place.

I hope I am wrong about the President's motivation.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I hope I am wrong about the President's motivations, and he brings Congress a real strategy to transition Venezuela to democracy. I hope he was moved by Maria Corina Machado's vision and not just her Nobel Prize. I am a show-me person, not a tell-me person, and so far President Trump has shown that he is more concerned with seizing Venezuela's oil than freeing Venezuela from dictatorship. ``Hasta el final''; ``Until the end.''

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I just wonder what kind of man, when a woman earned the Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Corina Machado, said that he wanted it, and she, trying to fight for democracy, came in, and he took it. He didn't earn it.

What kind of man does that?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I am ready to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

The last time I was on this floor, I had a question, and I still have that same question. I heard Members on the other side talk about the President trying to protect the American people. In fact, I heard someone--and I understand why Nicolas Maduro was indicted.

I am going to ask the chairman again. I don't know whether he wants to answer this question, but if that is true, why did the President of the United States pardon a former leader of Honduras, the former President, who was convicted of drug trafficking, who bragged about shoving drugs up the noses of the gringos? Why did the President of the United States pardon him?

I yield to the gentleman from Florida to respond to my question.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MEEKS. Reclaiming my time, yeah, okay, that is funny. It is because he does not care. It never was about drugs. It was always about oil. That is why. He doesn't care. That is why he took the Nobel Peace Prize from someone else who earned it. He doesn't care. He cares about one person--himself--and enriching his family and his friends.

Mr. Speaker, this War Powers Resolution introduced by Representative McGovern would put an immediate end to this administration's reckless military interventions in Venezuela. We cannot allow the Constitution to be usurped by one President who believes he can unilaterally declare war, invade a sovereign nation, and buck the rules-based international system we helped build.

If the House fails to check President Trump's aggression today, it will not end in Venezuela. I know the White House is paying close attention to this vote, and if we don't stand now and reassert our Article I power over matters of war and peace, we will have abdicated one of our most solemn responsibilities and reduced ourselves to a rubberstamp and become no better than the Duma in Russia.

Our constituents sent us here to lower their costs, not to sit on our hands while the President keeps doing what he pleases. Let us make sure we pass this resolution.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source