Five Senate Republicans broke ranks, voted with Democrats and advanced a war powers resolution aimed at reining in U.S. military action in Venezuela. The measure was specifically crafted to “direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress.”
The bipartisan breakthrough was, however, on a procedural vote. There was still one more Senate vote necessary to approve the resolution. If the 53 members who backed the measure last week stuck together, it would move to the House for consideration.
That didn’t happen.
MS Now
Gee, who were the two wimps?When five Senate Republicans voted with Democrats last week to advance a resolution to restrict President Donald Trump’s military authority in Venezuela, it looked like a significant rebuke of the administration.
Now, a week later — after two Republicans flipped their votes following intense lobbying from Trump and the White House — it looks like the latest example of GOP lawmakers bowing to the president.
MS Now
Oh, for crying out loud.The turn of events came to fruition after Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana — two of the GOP senators who voted to advance the measure last week — sided with Republicans on a point of order to rule the war powers resolution ineligible for a fast-track vote.
[...]
On Wednesday, Senate Republicans approved a procedural gambit to block the Venezuela war powers resolution from getting a final vote, stopping the bipartisan effort dead in its tracks after it appeared headed for success.
The vote was 51-50, after Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday night to break a tie.
[...]
Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted to advance the resolution last week, still sided with Democrats against the procedural maneuver.
[...]
Hawley and Young said their decisions came down to assurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the U.S. did not have troops on the ground in Venezuela and would not send any without notifying Congress.
He didn't even actually say they'd consult Congress. Just that they'd notify them. And worse, yet...In a letter written to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and obtained by MS NOW, Rubio said the deployment of active-duty service members in Caracas “will be undertaken consistent with the Constitution of the United States and we will transmit written notifications.” He echoed that sentiment in a communication to Young.
"Circumstances permitting."“Should the President determine that he intends to introduce U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities in major military operations in Venezuela, he would seek congressional authorization in advance (circumstances permitting),” Rubio wrote.
Assurances? What assurances?Last week, Hawley said he voted to advance the resolution because “my read of the Constitution is that if the president feels the need to put boots on the ground there in the future, Congress would need to vote on it.” But after Rubio’s assurances, Hawley changed his mind.
We all were surprised that Hawley voted with the Dems on this in the first place. Why'd he bother? Trying to reform his reputation as a craven coward? If so, I don't think it worked.“The secretary also told me directly that the administration will not put ground troops into Venezuela,” Hawley said. “They do not seek to occupy Venezuela, but his commitment to abide by the War Powers notification procedures and also the Constitution is directly responsive to my concerns, so I’m inclined to take yes for an answer.”
Perhaps even more craven than Hawley.Young expressed a similar sentiment, but he also pointed to the unlikely effort of the war powers resolution ever being signed into law: With a presidential veto all but certain should the measure land on Trump’s desk, the fight was futile.
And you have communicated that you're a total pouff.“Those who understand how Congress works, the good and the bad and ugly, understand that votes like this, in the end, are communications exercises,” Young said. “They’re important communications exercises, but unless you can secure sufficient votes, not only to pass the United States Senate, but to get out of the House, which is highly questionable, right, and then to override what was an inevitable presidential veto, which is impossible, no one can tell me how we get there, I had to accept that this was all a communications exercise.”
And that's the real reason Hawley and Young went scuttling back under cover.[T]he reversals from Hawley and Young came after Trump deployed an intense pressure campaign against the five Republican senators who voted to advance the resolution.
Shortly after the Senate voted to open debate on the resolution, Trump unleashed his anger on social media, saying Republicans should be “ashamed” of the quintet and declaring that they “should never be elected to office again.”
Then, serious kudos to Paul, Murkowski, and Collins. Collins!The president also made his frustrations known directly: He called the five Senate Republicans who voted to advance the war powers resolution, according to a source familiar with the call who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversation. The source said the president, who was described as being “very upset, angry, yelling,” berated “more than one senator.”
LOLOLOL. Outreach on substance. That's what we're calling Trump's temper tantrums now.Hawley recognized that lobbying when explaining his stance, but said it wasn’t coercion.
“I didn’t feel pressure,” Hawley said. “But I felt a lot of outreach on substance.”
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was the first to fold, announcing his reversal on Wednesday morning, and Indiana’s Todd Young soon followed suit.
[...]
On Tuesday, during remarks in Detroit, Trump continued to target the senators who’d disappointed him, slamming Paul as a “stone-cold loser” and describing Collins and Murkowski as “disasters.”
MS Now
No sense? No integrity? Self-serving? Let's ask this other Senator...
Uh-oh.
Additional developments will be updated here.
UPDATE 02:13 pm: Done.
51-50. 5150 is police code for a situation involving psychotic people.
Bold move.
But she did just vote to push forward the Big Beautiful Billionaires Bill.
But wait...
The Senate’s rewritten domestic policy bill faces new hurdles after the parliamentarian advised senators Sunday that several provisions violate the chamber’s strict rules for budget reconciliation bills.
The rulings, released in a memo from Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee, come as Senate Republicans are still trying to ensure they have the votes for final passage of their signature legislation.
Two provisions added to the bill just days ago — and tailored specifically to boost Medicaid payments to Alaska and Hawaii — have been ruled to violate the Senate’s Byrd rule.
Politico
UPDATE 07/02/2025:
Then you don't know Trump. He has been keen for revenge since his first term when Zelensky wouldn't investigate Joe Biden for him. When he learned Zelensky could not be subjugated.In one jaw-dropping meeting, the once unthinkable fear that Ukraine would be forced to engage in a long war against a stronger opponent without U.S. support appeared to move exponentially closer to reality.
“For Ukraine, it is clarifying, though not in a great way,” Phillips O’Brien, an international relations professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said in an interview. “Ukraine can now only count on European states for the support it needs to fight.”
The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said on Saturday that Europe must stand with Ukraine, and prevent the country “from having to accept subjugation.”
“The scene at the White House yesterday took my breath away,” he told the German press agency onboard a plane. “I would never have believed that we would ever have to defend Ukraine from the United States.”
NYT
Difficult, but not impossible.Mr. Zelensky signaled on Saturday that he had not completely given up hope of repairing the relationship with Mr. Trump. Posting on social media, he went out of his way to thank the United States, perhaps trying to address Mr. Trump’s complaint on Friday that he was ungrateful.
“I’m thankful to President Trump, Congress for their bipartisan support, and American people,” he wrote. “Ukrainians have always appreciated this support, especially during these three years of full-scale invasion.”
At the same time, Mr. Zelensky began laying the groundwork for moving ahead with the European countries that have stood by Kyiv’s side. Ukraine announced plans on Saturday for a joint weapons venture with France that would be financed by the interest earned from frozen Russian assets.
[...]
In a stark contrast to Friday’s meeting in Washington, [his] visit to 10 Downing Street began with a warm handshake and a short embrace. It included a promise from [Prime Minister Keir] Starmer to the Ukrainian president that “you have full backing across the United Kingdom, and we stand with you and Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
On Sunday, Mr. Zelensky will attend a summit of European leaders hosted by Mr. Starmer.
[...]
Along the front lines, some soldiers said that the realization was sinking in that Mr. Trump would probably not help Ukraine. “Trump chose his side in this war,” said Pvt. Serhiy Hnezdilov in a telephone interview from the front on Saturday.
Private Hnezdilov said that he supported Mr. Zelensky’s stance, adding that he thought the attempt to humiliate the Ukrainian leader was probably the goal of the invitation to the White House.
“The scandal we witnessed was essentially the only purpose of that meeting,” the private said. “It looked utterly absurd, considering that we, Ukrainians, have always regarded America as an example of democracy and, most importantly, of values.”
[...]
Leaders across Europe took to social media to voice support of Ukraine, and Mr. Zelensky offered his personal thanks for every statement while reposting them.
But Mr. Zelensky did acknowledge that losing U.S. military support would be a devastating blow.
“It will be difficult for us,” he told Fox News after the White House meeting. “That’s why I’m here.”
How does the American president offer concessions on Ukrainian territory?Opposition figures also backed Mr. Zelensky.
“Though I do not fully agree with President Zelensky’s policies, I must say that I am genuinely grateful to him for withstanding this pressure,” Natalia Pipa, a member of Parliament for the Holos party, said in an interview.
“Trump behaved disgustingly and condescendingly,” she added.
[...]
Since Mr. Trump picked up the phone on Feb. 12 for a 90-minute chat with Mr. Putin, he has called Mr. Zelensky “a dictator”; falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war; and pressed the Ukrainian leader to accede to his administration’s demands, posting that he “better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
[...]
He offered Mr. Putin generous concessions on NATO and Ukrainian territory even before the talks started, and repeated the Kremlin’s calls for elections in Ukraine.
