The Senate voted Wednesday to dismiss a war powers resolution that would have constrained President Donald Trump’s authority over military operations in Venezuela, after two Republican senators reversed their earlier support following direct pressure from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie on a Republican motion to dismiss the bill.

The vote came weeks after U.S. troops captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a nighttime raid, and as Trump has pledged to “run” Venezuela and threatened military force to seize Greenland from NATO ally Denmark — moves that have raised concern among lawmakers in both parties about the reach of presidential war-making authority.

Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana, both of whom voted the previous week to advance the resolution, switched their positions Wednesday evening. Their reversal gave Republicans enough votes to block the measure before it could reach a final up-or-down vote on passage. Three Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine — maintained their support for the legislation.

Two senators reverse

Hawley said Trump called him and stated the legislation “really ties my hands.” Hawley said he also received a follow-up call Monday with Rubio, who told him “point blank, we’re not going to do ground troops.” The senator said he received additional assurances that the administration would follow constitutional requirements if it became necessary to deploy troops again to Venezuela.

Young said he had extensive conversations with Rubio and received a letter from the secretary of state stating that the president will “seek congressional authorization in advance (circumstances permitting)” if he engages in “major military operations” in Venezuela. Young also said Rubio agreed to appear at a public hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Both senators said their negotiations also pushed the administration to release a 22-page Justice Department memo on Wednesday laying out the legal justification for the Maduro operation. The memo, which was heavily redacted and signed by Assistant Attorney General Elliot Gaiser, stated there is “no contingency plan to engage in any substantial and sustained operation that would amount to a constitutional war.”

As it built up a naval force in the Caribbean and destroyed vessels it said were carrying drugs from Venezuela, the Trump administration invoked wartime powers under the global war on terror by designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations. The administration has also described the capture of Maduro as a law enforcement operation, framing it as an extradition to face charges filed in the United States in 2020.

Paul criticized the administration for initially framing its military buildup in the Caribbean as a counternarcotics operation while more recently citing Venezuela’s oil reserves as a rationale for sustained pressure.

“The bait and switch has already happened,” Paul said.

Broader Republican unease

The war powers vote took on additional significance amid Republican alarm over Trump’s recent foreign policy conduct. In recent weeks, Trump has pledged that the United States will “run” Venezuela for years, threatened military action to take possession of Greenland, and told Iranians protesting their government that “help is on its way.”

Senior Republicans have sought to manage tensions between the Trump administration and Denmark, which holds Greenland as a semi-autonomous territory. Danish officials said Wednesday, following a meeting with Vance and Rubio, that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains.

Trump, speaking at an event in Michigan on Tuesday, defended the Venezuela operation and attacked the three Republicans who held their support for the resolution, calling Paul “a stone cold loser” and describing Murkowski and Collins as “disasters.”

“Here we have one of the most successful attacks ever and they find a way to be against it. It’s pretty amazing. And it’s a shame,” Trump said.

At a bill-signing ceremony Wednesday, Trump told reporters, “We’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Democratic response

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, said on the floor that the resolution was unnecessary because U.S. troops are not currently active in Venezuela.

“We’re not currently conducting military operations there,” Thune said. “But Democrats are taking up this bill because their anti-Trump hysteria knows no bounds.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, who brought the resolution, said on the floor that Republicans had blocked a substantive public debate over the Venezuela campaign.

“If this cause and if this legal basis were so righteous, the administration and its supporters would not be afraid to have this debate before the public and the United States Senate,” Kaine said.

Kaine vowed to force votes on war powers resolutions covering a range of potential military conflicts, including Greenland. House Democrats have also filed a similar war powers resolution and can force a vote on it as soon as next week, according to the Associated Press.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters after the vote: “What happened tonight is a roadmap to another endless war.”

A new AP-NORC poll found that more than half of U.S. adults said Trump has “gone too far” in using the U.S. military to intervene in other countries.