President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil and gas executives in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The resolution was tanked on a 51 to 50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance coming in to break a tie in favor of Trump.
Turning to the arcane procedural move served as a victory for both the president and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., after last week’s rare defeat on the floor.
Thune, like several other Republicans, contended that the resolution was not germane to the issues at hand in Venezuela.
"We don't have troops in Venezuela. There is no kinetic action, there are no operations," Thune said. "There are no boots on the ground. And I think the question is whether or not there ought to be expedited consideration or privilege accorded to something that's brought to the floor that doesn't reflect what's what is current reality in Venezuela."
"And so I think it's very fair for Republicans to question why we ought to be having this discussion right now, particularly at a time when we're trying to do appropriations bills," he continued.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued that because there was no current military action in Venezuela, Kaine’s resolution was moot. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Rubio, in a letter to Senate Foreign Relations Chair James Risch, R-Idaho, affirmed, "There are currently no U.S. Armed Forces in Venezuela."
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"Should there be any new military operations that introduce U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities, they will be undertaken consistent with the Constitution of the United States, and we will transmit written notifications consistent with section 4(a) of the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148)," Rubio wrote.
Kaine, who was confident that he would have the votes, panned that move ahead of the vote.
"If people want to just say, ‘Hey, President Trump, do whatever the hell you want,’ Let them vote that way, but don't change the rules of the Senate in a way that might disable future Senates that do have a backbone," Kaine told reporters.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/key-republicans-flip-kill-effort-restrain-trumps-policing-power-over-venezuela