GOP fractures emerge in midterm year's first week over Venezuela, Greenland, health care

Republicans enter the midterm cycle facing pressure to distinguish themselves from a president whose opening-week agenda — a military operation against Venezuela, threats of force toward a NATO ally, and a deferred reckoning on health care costs — has handed Democrats a ready argument that Trump is prioritizing foreign adventurism over domestic affordability.

WASHINGTON — Republican senators broke with President Donald Trump over Venezuela war powers, and 17 House members crossed party lines to extend health care subsidies, in the first full working week of the 2026 midterm election year. The back-to-back breaks came days after Trump rallied House Republicans at Washington’s Kennedy Center, and signaled early strains in a party that spent much of the previous year acquiescing to the president’s demands as it begins a difficult campaign to hold both chambers.

Five Republican senators voted Thursday for a procedural motion on a war powers resolution that would prohibit Trump from conducting military operations against Venezuela without congressional approval. Trump responded with fury, calling for the five — including Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who is up for reelection this year — to “never be elected to office again.”

Democrats had forced the war powers vote to press their case that the administration’s Venezuela military operation is pulling attention from domestic economic concerns. “He’s lurching towards another endless, expensive war, all the while American families here are struggling with skyrocketing costs,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican who supported the resolution, framed his vote as consistent with Trump’s stated foreign policy positions. “A drawn-out campaign in Venezuela involving the American military, even if unintended, would be the opposite of President Trump’s goal of ending foreign entanglements,” Young said in a written statement.

The procedural vote set up a final floor vote the following week. Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, acknowledged the political tension. “If Susan isn’t the senator from Maine, we’re going to end up with a Democrat,” Moreno said. “That would be 10 times worse. But I do appreciate that President Trump is absolutely pissed off.”

Health care vote divides House

In the House, 17 Republicans voted Thursday with Democrats to pass a proposal extending expired subsidies for health insurance offered under the Affordable Care Act, overriding objections from GOP leadership.

“People recognize the challenge here, which is to address health care affordability,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who voted for the proposal, while still criticizing the Affordable Care Act itself.

The result drew a swift response from House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. “In this first, full week of the new year, House Democrats — every single one of us joined by 17 Republicans — have partnered in a bipartisan way to protect the health care of the American people,” Jeffries said.

The vote came days after Trump, in his Kennedy Center speech, had urged Republicans to own the health care issue.

Greenland draws Senate rebukes

Trump’s pursuit of Greenland and the administration’s refusal to rule out military force against Denmark, a NATO ally, also drew resistance from Senate Republicans.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a retiring North Carolina Republican, took to the Senate floor to declare he was “sick of stupid” and specifically targeted White House deputy chief of policy Stephen Miller, who had argued Greenland should become part of the United States. “I want good advice for this president, because I want this president to have a good legacy,” Tillis said. “And this nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing, and the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker said after meeting with the Danish ambassador that it was Denmark’s right not to sell Greenland. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other Republicans also pushed back gently on any suggestion of military action against Denmark.

Rep. Don Bacon, a retiring Nebraska Republican, said Trump still had the ability to “bully” Republican colleagues but that Trump’s threats had “stiffened my spine.” Bacon added that he believed Congress should provide stronger checks and balances.

Trump retains hold over most of the party

Despite the visible fractures, Trump demonstrated continued command over most of his caucus. Two House veto override votes failed this week, with most Republicans siding with the president after having previously voted for the bills in question.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has been one of the few members to consistently defy Trump, said “there was some bully pulpit intimidation going on” from the president that caused the override votes to fail.

Senate Majority Leader Thune, speaking Friday at the U.S.-Mexico border with Republican Senate candidates, sought to redirect attention to domestic themes, saying Republicans would be “focused like a laser” on affordability and pointing to legislation in progress on housing and health care.

Senate votes to display Jan. 6 police plaque

On the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, the Republican-controlled Senate agreed to display a plaque honoring the police officers who defended the building. The plaque had been kept in storage after House Speaker Mike Johnson said the memorial did not comply with the law.

Tillis again pushed the issue, arguing it was important to honor those who had risked their lives. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, said he was alarmed by the White House’s effort to recast the Jan. 6 narrative. “It’s so important we be honest with the American people about what happened,” Merkley said.