With Democrats in the congressional minority, the party has limited opportunities to stand in the way of the Republican agenda and Donald Trump’s most radical excesses. Democrats can, however, force votes on War Powers Act resolutions, which has already happened earlier this year.
This week, it happened again. The New York Times reported:
Republicans in the Senate blocked a measure on Wednesday that would bar President Trump from using military force against boats in the Caribbean Sea, turning back an effort to check his power to wage war without authorization from Congress. The vote against bringing up the Democratic resolution was 51 to 48, mostly along party lines. It came less than a week after the U.S. military carried out the fourth strike in the Trump administration’s legally disputed campaign targeting alleged drug runners in the Caribbean.
Just two Senate Republicans — Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Kentucky’s Rand Paul — broke party ranks and supported the measure. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted with the GOP majority.
At issue, of course, is the recent series of deadly military strikes the president has approved against civilian boats in international waters, which a variety of legal observers have characterized as impermissible. The White House tried to address these concerns last week, sending Congress a notice claiming that the offensive is legal because he unilaterally “determined” that the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
But since it’s up to Congress to approve wars, two Senate Democrats — Virginia’s Tim Kaine and California’s Adam Schiff — tried to force a vote on the matter. (Privileged resolutions reach the floor, whether the majority’s leadership likes it or not.)








