U.S. Senate Seeks to Block Attack Against Venezuela

The U.S. Senate will vote this Thursday (11.06.2025) on a resolution that could prevent President Donald Trump from attacking Venezuela without congressional authorization. This comes a day after administration officials briefed lawmakers that Washington currently lacks legal justification to launch strikes against Venezuelan territory.

Legislators, including senior Republicans, demanded the Trump administration provide more information on U.S. military strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Although the legislation has virtually no chance of being enacted—in part because it would have to be signed by Trump himself—it has allowed senators to register their concerns about the president's public threats against Venezuela. "It's an open secret that this has much more to do with a potential regime change," stated California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who also pushed for the resolution. "If that is the direction the administration is heading, if that is what we are risking—becoming involved in a war—then Congress must have a say."

During a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Republican chairman, Senator Roger Wicker, stated that many senators have "serious concerns about the Pentagon's policies" and that Congress has not been consulted on recent measures such as the suspension of security aid to Ukraine, the reduction of U.S. troops in Romania, and the formulation of the National Defense Strategy.

Legal Grounding

The Donald Trump Administration acknowledged to Congress that it cannot currently legally justify a future U.S. attack on Venezuela and stated that, for now, it does not plan incursions into that country as part of its military campaign against drug trafficking, media reported this Thursday (11.06.2025).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had to provide details to legislators about the plans for Trump's anti-drug campaign, which has ordered nearly two dozen strikes on suspected vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific, resulting in over 60 deaths.

In the meeting, which also included members of the Department of Justice, officials specified that the "execution order" that began the anti-drug operation in international waters in September—near the coasts of Venezuela in the Caribbean and Colombia in the Pacific—does not extend to land-based targets.

The U.S. Senate's move occurs amid what experts consider the largest maritime deployment since the first Persian Gulf War (1990-1991). The U.S. is maintaining approximately eight warships—including six destroyers—three amphibious vessels, and a submarine in Caribbean waters.

The operation, which has provoked rejection from Caracas, Bogotá, and allies like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Cuba, also includes the deployment of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest and most modern in the U.S. fleet, which passed through the Strait of Gibraltar on its way to the Caribbean this Tuesday.