Demand Progress

Washington, DC—On Thursday, the House narrowly voted down a war powers resolution (215-215) aimed to check President Trump’s unauthorized military action in or against Venezuela, after the presiding chair delayed the close of voting well past the scheduled end in order to defeat the measure in a tie, halting a bipartisan effort to assert Congress’s constitutional war powers.

The House vote follows a Senate vote last week in which Senate Republicans, with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote, blocked final consideration of the bipartisan Venezuela War Powers Resolution and prevented a straight up-or-down vote on ending unauthorized hostilities.

In response to the House vote, Demand Progress Senior Policy Advisor Cavan Kharrazian issued the following statement:

“We are deeply disappointed that the House did not pass this war powers resolution, though it's notable that it failed only due to a tie after keeping the vote open for an extraordinary amount of time.

The bipartisan war powers efforts we saw in both chambers over the past several weeks, with razor thin margins, mattered, even without final passage. They helped hold the Trump administration at bay and constrain further military escalation in Venezuela, even as we remain concerned about ongoing unauthorized hostilities, including a naval blockade, and the risk of follow-on operations if the administration’s plan to ‘run’ Venezuela fails.

As with the recent Senate vote, the administration expended extraordinary energy pressuring Republicans to block this resolution. That effort speaks for itself: with the American people tired of endless war, the administration knows that a Congress willing to enforce the law can meaningfully curtail illegal and escalatory military action. We urge members of Congress to continue fully exercising their constitutional authority over matters of war.”