[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 7, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S69-S70]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               VENEZUELA

  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, today is a great day in America. Nicolas 
Maduro--an indicted drug trafficker, an illegitimate communist dictator 
who has the blood of hundreds of Arkansans and thousands of Americans 
on his hands--is behind bars in a prison in New York. Again, he was an 
illegitimate communist dictator, in league with all of America's 
enemies around the world.
  With the Venezuelan people crushed underneath his iron fist for 
years, Maduro turned the country into a crossroads and a playground for 
the likes of communist China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, and even Islamic 
terrorists like Hezbollah.
  I want to take this opportunity to commend the exceptional skill and 
bravery of our troops, CIA officers, and FBI agents for executing such 
an amazing military and intelligence operation that brought Maduro's 
reign to an abrupt end. It is impossible to overstate the complexity of 
this mission. But for our troops and our intelligence officers--whose 
skill, professionalism, and bravery are unmatched in the world--
``impossible'' isn't in their vocabulary.
  I also commend President Trump for having the courage to take bold, 
decisive, and audacious action against Nicolas Maduro. This action was 
well within the President's constitutional authority. The operation was 
in keeping with President Bush's operation to arrest the drug lord and 
Panamanian President Manuel Noriega, in 1989. If anything, Maduro was 
much worse than Noriega, and Venezuela now is even more vital 
strategically than Panama was then.
  Additionally, this operation did not violate the War Powers 
Resolution. Even if you believe the War Powers Resolution is 
constitutional, these troops were in and out of Venezuela in a couple 
of hours.
  Only the United States could execute such a dangerous and difficult 
mission without the loss of a single American life. But instead of 
celebrating Maduro's ouster and America's success, our Democratic 
colleagues are determined to condemn the operation, all because 
President Trump ordered it.
  Consider that, in 2020, Senator Schumer criticized President Trump 
for bragging ``about his Venezuela policy'' but failing to bring ``an 
end to the Maduro regime.'' It sounds like a call for regime change to 
me, just like Joe Biden's decision to increase the bounty on Maduro's 
head seems like a call for Maduro to be apprehended and brought to 
justice. Yet when President Trump did exactly that last weekend, 
Senator Schumer said this is ``reckless.''
  Also, consider Senator Murphy, who said, in 2019:

       Getting rid of Maduro is good for the United States.

  I agree. Unfortunately, he has changed his tune lately. The day after 
Maduro's capture, Senator Murphy said:

       The invasion of Venezuela has nothing to do with American 
     security.

  Nothing.
  He further said:

       Venezuela is not a security threat to the [United States].

  I disagree. I think it has more than a little to do with our national 
security and our safety. I have heard from too many Arkansas mothers 
and fathers whose children have died because of a

[[Page S70]]

drug overdose. This operation was about protecting those families and 
families like them, anyone who struggles with or who has lost a loved 
one to addiction.
  Again, Nicolas Maduro was an indicted drug trafficker and 
narcoterrorist. He was in league with the very drug traffickers who are 
in the business of killing our kids for profit. He didn't just tolerate 
drug traffickers in Venezuela or lose control of his territory and 
allow them to run wild; he was a drug trafficker.
  I didn't conclude that alone. That was not President Trump's sole 
decision or even President Biden's decision. That was the finding of a 
grand jury made up of normal Americans, on more than one occasion.
  As for the future of Venezuela, well, of course, it is ultimately up 
to the Venezuelans. The interim authorities in charge in Venezuela 
today know what we expect of them: Stop the drug trafficking and the 
weapons trafficking. Accept the return of their refugees and migrants. 
Release political prisoners. Expel the Iranians, the Cubans, the 
Islamic terrorists, like Hezbollah operatives, who have turned 
Venezuela into a launching pad for regional instability and threats to 
America's interests.
  It will be a difficult road. Our best source of leverage, though, 
over the interim authorities is the quarantine that we have imposed on 
their black market oil, which the Maduro regime used to enrich itself--
not just the regime but the senior leaders of the regime as well, if 
you know anything about their spending habits or their tastes.
  Yet this resolution--this very resolution we are debating--might very 
well require the removal of our Navy ships from the Caribbean that are 
enforcing the quarantine. Is that what our Democratic friends really 
want--to let these Chavistas in control of the interim authorities 
start exporting black market oil again, to keep themselves in power, 
unaccountable not only to their own people but to America's vital 
national security interests?
  I will say I don't think so. I don't think our Democratic colleagues 
want to let Venezuela start exporting black market oil again. I believe 
they were genuine years ago, when they called for Maduro's ouster. I 
believe they are genuine, now, when they condemn Maduro as an 
illegitimate dictator and a drug trafficker, someone who repressed his 
own people, even if they then immediately want to eat their cake and 
have it too by saying that President Trump still shouldn't have removed 
him. I think it is just that they are so blinded by their hatred of 
President Trump that they feel they have to condemn this action in some 
way.
  Instead, why don't we just, as I said at the beginning, celebrate the 
removal of a virulently anti-American, illegitimate communist dictator 
who was trafficking drugs into our country and then help the Venezuelan 
people build a bright future that restores the glories of their past, 
turning a nation that was the most dangerous, anti-American country in 
our backyard into the most stable and prosperous pro-American country 
in our backyard.
  So I urge a ``no'' vote against this resolution.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

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