{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=F56B1EB2-7716-485B-A88E-5A59A0F20D65", "McConnell Comments on War Powers, Next Steps in Venezuela", "2026-01-08", "2026", "2026-01", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) submitted the following remarks for the record today ahead of the Senate\u2019s roll call vote on the motion to discharge from Foreign Relations Committee, S.J.Res.98, Kaine War Powers Resolution (Venezuela):\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to make just a few brief observations ahead of the vote on Senator Kaine\u2019s War Powers resolution.\n\n\u201cThe War Powers Act is not the law I would have written, and there are reasonable questions about its constitutionality. But it\u2019s been the law now for over 50 years. And it\u2019s important to remember what it was designed to prevent\u2026 and, even more importantly, what it wasn\u2019t.\n\n\u201cBack in 1973, the goal was preventing another Vietnam. The idea was to impose guardrails against the large-scale, indefinite commitment of U.S. troops abroad. And in shutting that door, the law very intentionally reaffirmed our founders\u2019 decision to leave another door open.\n\n\u201cThe law grants presidents clear authority for the limited use of military force. And of the many occasions over the years when colleagues on both sides of the aisle have invoked the War Powers Act to condemn such limited use of military force \u2013 by Presidents of both parties \u2013 I can\u2019t recall a single one in which Congress managed to change the facts and artificially constrain the Commander-in-Chief\u2019s authority.\n\n\u201cThis time is no different. The President was well within this authority in his decision to bring Nicolas Maduro to justice. How do we know? A number of ways:\n\n\u201cFirst, plain statute: Notification of Congress within 48? Check. Withdrawal within 60 days? Try 60 minutes!\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s more \u2013 recent history provides clear precedent from presidents of both parties. What authority did this operation exceed that President Obama or President Reagan did not exceed in operations in Libya? Or President Clinton in Kosovo? What makes this time different than President Biden\u2019s strikes in Syria or Yemen? Certainly, there\u2019s little daylight between the legality of this operation and the one President H.W. Bush undertook to apprehend Manuel Noriega in Panama.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have to agree with a president\u2019s approach to national security policy to acknowledge his compliance with the law and his constitutional authority for the use of force\u2026 Which makes the invocation of the War Powers Act such a tired and blunt instrument. For my part, I\u2019ve consistently opposed resolutions like these aimed at constraining presidents\u2019 constitutional authority. And I\u2019ve done it on behalf of presidents of both parties.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m old enough to remember when \u2013 during President Obama\u2019s feckless dealings with Iran \u2013 no less than the future Democratic Leader insisted that, \u2018we should never take the military option off the table\u2019.\n\n\u201cBut every one of our colleagues remembers last summer when the frequent fliers of the War Powers Resolution reached yet again for their favorite tool after the President\u2019s decision to degrade Iran\u2019s nuclear program without putting a single American boot on the ground.\n\n***\n\n\u201cOf course, there are serious questions at hand to which the Senate and the American people should expect serious answers from the Commander-in-Chief. The President\u2019s authorities to conduct military operations may be wide and well-established, but they incur a responsibility to situate decisive actions in broader, longer-term strategy.\n\n\u201cMaduro is an authoritarian thug. He reduced a once-prosperous neighbor of America to an impoverished vassal of Cuba, Russia, Iran, and China. He profited from the flow of lethal drugs to America. He spat in the face of Venezuelan voters. And, until very recently, he slept in peace while they starved.\n\n\u201cA Western Hemisphere without him or his ilk in power serves America\u2019s interests. But clearly, Venezuela and the hemisphere have a ways to go.\n\n\u201cTo the extent that our colleagues are concerned about the mechanisms and timeline of a transition to democratically-elected Venezuelan leaders, I share their curiosity. If they want to know more about the President\u2019s longer-term strategy to stabilize Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere, so do I!\n\n\u201cSuffice it to say that whatever the objective, whatever the strategy, America is well-served when its Presidents secure enduring bipartisan support for their foreign policies. President Obama ignored Congress in pursuing a reckless and bad nuclear deal with Iran. Unsurprisingly, that deal did not endure.\n\n\u201cSuccessfully returning Venezuela to its role of stable, prosperous, democratic neighbor is a noble goal\u2026 but an ambitious one. It doesn\u2019t come without risk. And it\u2019s worth making the clear case to the country.\n\n\u201cI appreciate the Administration\u2019s willingness to brief Senators on the sensitive details of a tactical victory. But they owe it to the American people \u2013 and, frankly, the long-suffering people of Venezuela \u2013 to lay out the path to strategic success in much greater detail.\n\n\u201cIf the aim is to reestablish American primacy in its near abroad, great. If the idea is to evict enemies who hate America from a valuable foothold in our region, onward!\n\n\u201cA stable Venezuela, led by duly elected Venezuelans, will leave Americans safer and more secure. The Administration should explain how that end goal will be achieved.\n\n\u201cIn the meantime, I will oppose the Kaine resolution, and would urge my colleagues to do the same.\u201d", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=F56B1EB2-7716-485B-A88E-5A59A0F20D65"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6016000881791115, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}