Diyar Güldoğan
19 September 2025•Update: 19 September 2025
WASHINGTON
Two Democratic senators introduced a resolution on Friday aiming to block the use of US Armed Forces against non-state organizations in the Caribbean.
The War Powers Act resolution, unveiled by Tim Kaine and Adam Schiff, came after President Donald Trump said Monday that the US carried out a strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug cartel vessel en route to the US. The strike followed an initial Sept. 2 attack on a boat that Trump said killed 11 people, while also drawing criticism.
"President Trump has no legal authority to launch strikes or use military force in the Caribbean or elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere," Kaine said in a statement.
He criticized the Trump administration for not providing Congress with information about the multiple strikes it carried out, including who was killed.
"Congress simply cannot let itself be stiff-armed as this Administration continues to flout the law. That’s why we’re introducing this legislation to require a debate and vote on whether the U.S. should be conducting these strikes without congressional approval," he added.
Schiff, for his part, said Congress alone holds the power to declare war.
"And while we share with the executive branch the imperative of preventing and deterring drugs from reaching our shores, blowing up boats without any legal justification risks dragging the United States into another war and provoking unjustified hostilities against our own citizens," he added.
According to the statement, the resolution reaffirms that trafficking of illegal drugs does not itself constitute an armed attack or threat of an imminent armed attack that would justify military action, and that the designation of an entity as a foreign terrorist organization does not provide any legal authority to the president to use military force.
