Washington, Jan. 23— After a dramatic tie vote (215-215), the United States House of Representatives today rejected a resolution pushed by the Democrats that would have prevented President Donald Trump from sending military forces to Venezuela.
The result showed that the Speaker of the House, Republican Mike Johnson, faces strong opposition in that legislative body, which is controlled by a narrow majority of his party, to Donald Trump's aggressions in the Western Hemisphere.
Two Republicans, Don Bacon and Thomas Massie, joined all the Democrats in supporting the legislative proposal.
A similar vote also ended in a 50-50 tie last week in the Senate, with the difference of one vote being made by the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, in his role as president of that Congressional chamber.
Trump campaigned in 2024 with the promise to withdraw the country and not get involved in foreign wars, but in this first year of his second term he has engaged in military options, including the attack last January 3 against Venezuela that resulted in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The treacherous aggression caused more than a hundred deaths, including 32 Cubans.
The war powers resolution, proposed by the highest-ranking member of the House Rules Committee, Jim McGovern (Democrat from Massachusetts), would require the president to “withdraw the United States Armed Forces from Venezuela unless they are explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific legal authorization for the use of military force.”
“Shouldn’t we all agree, regardless of whether we support or oppose Trump’s actions, that we must debate this issue?” McGovern said on the House floor. “This is madness. We cannot remain silent: no oversight, no hearings, no votes, just blind obedience to the executive branch. This is not how this place is supposed to work.”
But Republicans dismissed the measure as unnecessary. “The United States is not at war with Venezuela,” said the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Brian Mast (Republican from Florida), who considered that “the Democrats are asking us to vote on a resolution about a situation that literally does not exist.”
The highest-ranking member of the Committee, Gregory Meeks (Democrat from New York), noted that “for those who deny this is a war incitement, there is still a U.S. aircraft carrier stationed in the Caribbean.”
“Tens of thousands of young Americans remain on alert. And if the president wants to drag the United States into a war the American people do not want — they do not want it — he must first consult with Congress,” he emphasized.
