{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-urges-senate-to-stop-trumps-unconstitutional-attacks-in-the-caribbean-sea-its-not-up-to-the-president-to-determine-if-we-go-to-war-its-up-to-congress/", "Welch Urges Senate to Stop Trump\u2019s Unconstitutional Attacks in the Caribbean Sea: \u201cIt\u2019s not up to the President to determine if we go to war\u2014it\u2019s up to Congress.\u201d", "2025-10-29", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 In remarks from the Senate floor this week, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, questioned the legality of the President\u2019s recent military actions in the Caribbean Sea and demanded that Congress assert its constitutional obligation to determine where and why the United States goes to war.\n\n\u201cLaws matter, and the Constitution matters. If the President does want to start a war, if he wants to put America\u2019s troops in harm\u2019s way, he needs to seek authorization from Congress,\u201d said Senator Welch. \u201cIt\u2019s up to the Senate to do its job. We have seen from history that our failure to assert our constitutional responsibility to decide whether to send our military to war has resulted in grievous suffering for the American people and a weakening of our national security. In asserting our responsibility, at the bare minimum, this United States Senate should demand\u2014should demand\u2014to see Attorney General Bondi\u2019s legal analysis that the President has used to justify the use of the U.S. military to engage in these attacks.\u201d\n\nWatch Senator Welch\u2019s speech below:\n\nRead key excerpts from Senator Welch\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cThis President\u2014no President\u2014has the legal authority without congressional authorization to take America into military conflict. There have been no credible legal experts that have defended the President\u2019s actions, with one exception\u2014and, of course, and that is the Attorney General, who has provided an opinion to the President. We are told, but have not seen, that what he\u2019s doing is \u2018legal.\u2019 That\u2019s without precedent. It\u2019s without precedent for the top legal official in this country to give an opinion that it\u2019s legal to go to war without congressional authorization.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s clearly the legal advice the President wanted and won\u2019t even share with the members of the United States Senate. The President, of course, seems to be basing the legality of these actions on the declaration that drug traffickers are terrorists\u2026.But simply the determination by the President that he\u2019s attacking a group of what he calls terrorists, \u2018narco-terrorists,\u2019 does not by itself make it legal under the Constitution.\u201d\n\nThe Senator also condemned the Trump Administration for undermining efforts to curb drug trafficking, which has had devastating impacts on communities in Vermont and across the country:\n\n\u201cAll of us are on board, Republicans and Democrats, with the fight against narcotics, illegal drugs\u2014fentanyl in particular\u2014which mostly enter the U.S. through Mexico and on the Pacific Ocean. They are wreaking havoc on our communities. It\u2019s happened in Vermont, as well as West Virginia, Idaho, Florida, Montana, every other state, our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers are struggling with addiction and dying from overdose\u2026.This has not been a partisan issue,\u201d said Senator Welch. \u201cBut why are we spending billions of dollars in this effort in Venezuela, while at the same time taking funding away for treatment programs here at home that actually have been proven effective to help the most vulnerable Americans that are actually struggling with addiction to fentanyl and other drugs?\u201d\n\n\u201cSo, when the President claims his new war is about \u2018protecting\u2019 America from drugs, it\u2019s a fair question: why are we doing so little? Why are we taking money away from treatment? Why are we taking money away from high-intensity drug enforcement? Why are we not prosecuting more, instead prosecuting so much less?\u201d\n\nToday, Senator Welch led every Senate Judiciary Committee Democrat in demanding answers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) about the legality of military actions ordered by President Trump that have already killed 57 individuals in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.\n\nLearn more about Senator Welch\u2019s work by visiting his website or by following him on social media.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "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.welch.senate.gov/welch-urges-senate-to-stop-trumps-unconstitutional-attacks-in-the-caribbean-sea-its-not-up-to-the-president-to-determine-if-we-go-to-war-its-up-to-congress/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5317259822040796, "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"}