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Senate GOP Vote Down Trump Power Check 10/09 06:09
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans voted down legislation Wednesday that
would have put a check on President Donald Trump's ability to use deadly
military force against drug cartels after Democrats tried to counter the
administration's extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers to destroy
vessels in the Caribbean.
The vote fell mostly along party lines, 48-51, with two Republicans, Sens.
Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, voting in favor and Democratic Sen. John
Fetterman voting against.
It was the first vote in Congress on Trump's military campaign, which
according to the White House has so far destroyed four vessels, killed at least
21 people and stopped narcotics from reaching the U.S.. The war powers
resolution would have required the president to seek authorization from
Congress before further military strikes on the cartels.
The Trump administration has asserted that drug traffickers are armed
combatants threatening the United States, creating justification to use
military force. But that assertion has been met with some unease on Capitol
Hill.
Some Republicans are asking the White House for more clarification on its
legal justification and specifics on how the strikes are conducted, while
Democrats insist they are violations of U.S. and international law. It's a
clash that could redefine how the world's most powerful military uses lethal
force and set the tone for future global conflict.
The White House had indicated Trump would veto the legislation, and even
though the Senate vote failed it gave lawmakers an opportunity to go on the
record with their objections to Trump's declaration that the U.S. is in "armed
conflict" with drug cartels.
"It sends a message when a significant number of legislators say, 'Hey, this
is a bad idea,'" said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who pushed the
resolution alongside Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.
What is the War Powers Resolution?
Wednesday's vote was brought under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which
was intended to reassert congressional power over the declaration of war.
"Congress must not allow the executive branch to become judge, jury and
executioner," Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has long pushed for greater
congressional oversight of war powers, said during a floor speech.
Paul was the only Republican to publicly speak in favor of the resolution
before the vote, but a number of GOP senators have questioned the strikes on
vessels and said they are not receiving enough information from the
administration.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, acknowledged "there may be
some concern" in the Republican conference about the strikes. However,
Republican leaders argued against the resolution on the Senate floor Wednesday,
calling it a political ploy from Democrats.
"People were attacking our country by bringing in poisonous substances to
deposit into our country that would have killed Americans," said Sen. Jim
Risch, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Fortunately most
of those drugs are now at the bottom of the ocean."
Risch thanked Trump for his actions and added that he hoped the military
strikes would continue.
What has the administration told Congress about the strikes?
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee received a classified
briefing last week on the strikes, and Cramer said he was "comfortable with at
least the plausibility of their legal argument." But he added that no one
representing intelligence agencies or the military command structure for
Central and South America was present for the briefing.
"I'd be more comfortable defending the administration if they shared the
information," he said.
Kaine also said the briefing did not include any information on why the
military chose to destroy the vessels rather than interdict them or get into
the specifics of how the military was so confident that the vessels were
carrying drugs.
"Maybe they were engaged in human trafficking, or maybe it was the wrong
ship," Schiff said. "We just have little or no information about who was
onboard these ships or what intelligence was used or what the rationale was and
how certain we could be that everyone on that ship deserved to die."
The Democrats also said the administration has told them it is adding
cartels to a list of organizations deemed "narco-terrorists" that are targets
for military strikes, but it has not shown the lawmakers a complete list.
"The slow erosion of congressional oversight is not an abstract debate about
process," Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, said in a floor speech. "It is a real and present threat to our
democracy."
A visit from Rubio
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Republican Conference for lunch
Wednesday to emphasize to senators that they should vote against the
legislation. He told the senators the administration was treating cartels like
governmental entities because they have seized control of large portions of
some Caribbean nations, according to Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota.
"These drug trafficking organizations are a direct threat to the safety and
security of the United States to unleash violence and criminality on our
streets, fueled by the drugs and the drug profits that they make," Rubio told
reporters at the Capitol. "And the president is the commander in chief, has an
obligation to keep our country safe."
Still, there is worry in the Senate that the recent buildup of U.S. maritime
forces in the Caribbean was a sign of shifting U.S. priorities and tactics that
could have grave repercussions. Senators warned that further military strikes
had the potential to set off a conflict with Venezuela.
"This is the kind of thing that leads a country, unexpectedly and
unintentionally, into war," Schiff said.
Following the vote, Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, said in a
statement that even though he voted against the resolution, he was still
"highly concerned about the legality" of the strikes.
He also raised concern that the military buildup in the Caribbean could
divert resources from countering China's military elsewhere. Young said he
would be meeting with Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about those
concerns and also called for a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
"The administration should adhere to the Constitution and keep the people's
representatives informed on this critical national security issue," he said.
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