On Venezuela, Partisan Battle Lines Are Drawn

Members of Congress are drawing partisan battle lines on the issue of intervention in Venezuela, just days after the capture and extradition of the now-ousted President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

On Tuesday, the White House’s cabinet members briefed leaders of the House and Senate on the administration’s goals in Venezuela and provided classified information on Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission that captured Maduro.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine all briefed congressional leaders.

“We are not involved with boots on the ground now. We are not engaged in a regime change. As you know, an interim president has now taken the oath,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters after the classified briefing.

“The world is safer because Maduro is apprehended in the hands of the U.S. justice system,” Johnson added.

As members exited the House briefing, Republicans said it was informative.

Speaker Johnson told reporters, “I think this presentation is well received, noting that Gen. Caine “gave a very precise and detailed narrative.”

Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, who is opposed to nation-building exercises in Venezuela, told The Daily Signal he left the meeting “encouraged” by how cabinet members described their priorities.

“I’m encouraged that the administration said, look, we want a stable country in Venezuela, but note that we aren’t occupying the country. We’re not doing, like, the neocon approaches: big presence, occupy, rebuild all these institutions, all that,” Davidson said.

Nevertheless, he expressed support for the operation’s strategic impact.

“We don’t want the narco-state, we don’t want the money laundering that was going on there for everyone around the world. We don’t want China’s presence, Russia’s presence,” he said.

Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., who has demanded an explanation of “clear and precise end goal objectives” from the administration, also emerged from the meeting with a positive outlook.

The administration has “the same goals we should all have, that they have a peaceful, prosperous, and allied country to the United States that’s going to halt the flow of illegal drugs into our country and provide opportunity for the people of their country.”

Democrats took an almost unanimously negative view of the administration’s actions.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told The Daily Signal “there’s tremendous concern all around” when asked if her party was unified in opposition.

“I served in Iraq,” Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters outside the briefing.

 “I remember when the invasion was very successful. I was proud. I remember when George W. Bush said, ‘mission accomplished.’ It’s not the end of the story, and I don’t think that’s going to be the end of this story, either.”

Moulton argued the operation was a usurpation of Congress’ military and oversight authority.

Members supporting the administration’s actions “are basically applauding their own emasculation,” he said, “while this administration throws out the Constitution and lies to members of Congress.”

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that “questions were not answered” at the briefing.

“There is no plan that I see [for Venezuela], no plan that’s been proposed.”

Democrats said they will attempt to counter the administration with war powers resolutions in the House and Senate.

A war powers resolution to block attacks on Venezuela failed in December, but Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., has said Democrats will advance “something similar to what we did last time, maybe with a couple of minor adjustments.”

In the Senate, Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., have a war powers resolution which at least one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, has announced his intent to support.

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