As Trump raises pressure on Venezuela, senators hope to lower heat

Democratic and Republican U.S. senators announced plans on Friday to force a vote on a resolution to prevent military action against Venezuela without congressional authorization, seeking to rein in President Donald Trump’s escalation of pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, who is sponsoring the war powers resolution with fellow Democrat Adam Schiff of California and Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, said he was responding to the repeated U.S. strikes on boats off Venezuela.
There have been at least five such strikes, which the Trump administration says are part of a campaign against drug traffickers. They have killed at least 27 people.
Kaine noted the U.S. constitutional requirement that only Congress, not the president, authorizes war, except for short-term strikes.