[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S97]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               VENEZUELA

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. President, for months, the Trump administration 
claimed that its campaign of blowing up boats in the Caribbean was 
about stopping drugs like deadly fentanyl coming to the United States--
never mind that fentanyl doesn't really come from Venezuela; it comes 
from precursors made in China and is predominantly smuggled in through 
Mexico; never mind that there are well-established, well-practiced 
operations for interdicting the drugs and apprehending alleged drug 
traffickers, not killing them; never mind that we don't even have 
clarity on what was on these boats or who was on these boats and where 
they were headed. No. Even as the U.S. military amassed unprecedented 
military firepower off the coast of Caracas that included multiple 
warships, thousands of troops, and the largest aircraft carrier ever 
put to sea, the administration still claimed this was about drug boats.
  You heard the administration say that time and time again to the 
public and to Congress until last weekend when the objective became 
clear: This was about Venezuela's oil, and if we could have that, we 
would leave the drug-running regime in place, albeit with its No. 2 
corrupt leader instead of its No. 1, Nicolas Maduro.
  The rightful leadership of Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado and her 
election surrogate Edmundo Gonzalez--the ones who won the last election 
there--would have no place, no role in the new government because this 
was no more about democracy than it was about drugs. It was about oil.
  Just yesterday, the Secretary of Energy said that the United States 
intended to maintain significant control over Venezuela's oil industry, 
including by overseeing the sale of the country's production 
indefinitely--indefinitely--and Donald Trump has promised to use the 
revenue from these oil sales to create a fund that he would control. He 
is literally meeting with oil executives on Friday to try to divide up 
the spoils of this military campaign.
  Now, some of my colleagues may believe that using the U.S. military 
to depose Nicolas Maduro and seize Venezuela's oil is well worth the 
risk to our troops and the danger of our becoming mired down in that 
country. I disagree, but if that were the case, let them seek an 
authorization from Congress to do so.
  We have so many urgent problems that need addressing here at home 
with life being barely affordable for millions of Americans and the 
cost of living rising--with people struggling to cover the rent, with 
families barely able to afford the cost of groceries, to say nothing of 
the skyrocketing healthcare costs. But now, instead of putting 
Americans first, we are stepping into a foreign nation and promising to 
run it for the foreseeable future. An administration that had promised 
to end foreign wars has begun a new one. A President who had decried 
the use of force for regime change or to engage in nation building has 
just committed our country to both.
  No doubt Russia and China see opportunity in this American about-
face, with Russia to indict Ukrainian leaders and to seize them and 
with China to do the same in Taiwan. We are not only at risk of 
reestablishing the idea that might makes right and military conquest is 
acceptable in your sphere of influence, but there is the very real 
prospect of destabilizing a world order post-World War II that has made 
us safer and more prosperous.
  Now, when it comes to Congress's role in checking this President, in 
asserting its war powers given to us by our Founders and the Framers of 
our Constitution, if we do not assert this power, we will lose it and 
not just to constrain this President but any President and for all 
time. The American people have said clearly and repeatedly they do not 
want us dragged into new foreign wars, especially wars of our own 
making, and we have the power to make good on that instruction. We are 
a coequal branch of government and the only branch endowed with the 
power of the purse and the power to declare war or to refuse to do so.
  But if we do not assert these powers, if we don't stand up not just 
for our branch of government but for the American people, there is no 
telling and no stopping what comes next because the administration has 
made it clear that Venezuela is the opening salvo. Will it be Cuba next 
or Colombia or Mexico or Greenland, for crying out loud?
  This is the moment when we need to stand up and exercise our powers 
as part of the government that is closest to the people to make it 
clear that no President can commit our military forces absent an attack 
on our country or imminent threat of an invasion without the approval 
of Congress and certainly not to help industry chase new profits or 
revenue in oil or minerals around the globe. We have a duty to our 
constituents, to our Constitution, and to posterity. Let us uphold it. 
Vote yes on the resolution.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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