Republicans successfully blocked the measure in a 215-215 tie vote. Two Republicans — Reps. Don Bacon (Neb.) and Thomas Massie (Ky.) — joined all 213 Democrats in voting for the measure.
A dramatic scene unfolded on the House floor as GOP leaders held the vote open until Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) — whom Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had chided for being absent on a tricky vote earlier in the day — arrived to make the vote a tie, causing the measure to fail. Hunt was reportedly spotted at Dulles International Airport, about 45 minutes from the Capitol, when the vote series on funding bills began.
Democrats shouted at the chair to close the vote, to no avail.
"This is serious s‑‑‑. Close the vote," Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) yelled at one point.
The war powers resolution, led by House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), would direct the president "to remove United States Armed Forces from Venezuela, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization for use of military force."
McGovern triggered a vote on his resolution in wake of Trump using the military to assist in capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, shocking the world.
"Shouldn't we all agree, whether you support Trump's actions or oppose them, that we should have a debate on this stuff — that we should authorize an expansion of military forces if that's what's in the future?" McGovern said on the House floor. "This is crazy. We can't be asleep at the switch — no oversight, no hearing, no votes, just blind obedience to the executive. That's not the way this place is supposed to run."
Republicans brushed off the measure as unnecessary.
"The U.S. is not at war with Venezuela," Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) said on the House floor. "Democrats are asking us to vote on a resolution about a situation that literally does not exist."
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), though, noted the large presence of troops outside Venezuela.
"For those of you who deny this is warmongering, there is still a U.S. aircraft carrier parked in the Caribbean," Meeks said. "Tens of thousands of young American men and women remain on standby. And if the president wants to drag the United States into a war the American people don't want — they don't want this — he must come to Congress first."
Read the full report at thehill.com.
