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Vance Kills the Vote

· 5 min read
xJ4cks
xJ4cks
Software Dev, Fabulist

A Vice President Ends the Closest Thing to Accountability​

On January 3rd, 2026, the United States military bombed Caracas. Not a forward base. Not a ship in international waters. The capital city of a sovereign nation. 150+ aircraft. 100+ people killed. And then, in the pre-dawn hours, US forces captured Nicolás Maduro and flew him to New York to face federal narcoterrorism charges.

No declaration of war. No congressional authorization. No advance notice to Congress. Lawmakers learned about it after the aircraft had already left Venezuelan airspace.

Six days later, the Senate came closer to checking this president than it has on anything since January 20th.

January 8: The Discharge Vote (52–47)​

S.J.Res. 98, sponsored by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Adam Schiff (D-CA), would have directed the removal of US Armed Forces from hostilities in Venezuela without congressional authorization.

To reach a floor vote, the resolution first needed to be discharged from committee — a procedural hurdle designed to let leadership kill bills quietly. On January 8th, the Senate voted to discharge it anyway: 52–47.

Five Republicans broke with their party to advance the measure:

SenatorStateVote
Paul, RandKentuckyYea
Collins, SusanMaineYea
Murkowski, LisaAlaskaYea
Hawley, JoshMissouriYea
Young, ToddIndianaYea

This was the most bipartisan war powers vote of the 119th Congress. It looked, briefly, like something might actually happen.

The Flip​

Between January 8th and January 14th, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent written assurances to Senators Hawley and Young. The letter reportedly stated that no ground troops had been permanently deployed in Venezuela, and that the administration would seek congressional input before any future major military operations in the country.

A letter. No binding commitment. No law. No amendment to the resolution itself. Just a letter.

Hawley and Young accepted it.

January 14: The Final Vote (50–50)​

On January 14th, S.J.Res. 98 came to a final passage vote. The result was 50–50.

Three Republicans held their position:

SenatorStateVote
Paul, RandKentuckyYea
Collins, SusanMaineYea
Murkowski, LisaAlaskaYea

Two did not:

SenatorStateJan 8Jan 14
Hawley, JoshMissouriYeaNay
Young, ToddIndianaYeaNay

A 50–50 tie in the Senate is broken by the Vice President. JD Vance voted Nay.

S.J.Res. 98 was dead. The resolution never reached the House. The president faced no consequence.

What the Administration Claimed​

The Trump administration did not invoke any statute. There was no Authorization for Use of Military Force covering Venezuela. There was no declaration of war. The legal framework offered was:

  • Article II of the Constitution — the president's "inherent" executive authority as Commander in Chief
  • Narcoterrorism framing — Maduro and affiliated organizations had been criminally indicted on federal drug charges; the White House characterized the operation as a "law enforcement action with military support" rather than an act of war

The Brennan Center called it unconstitutional. Just Security called it a violation of international law. The United Nations said it violated the strict prohibition on resort to military force in international relations.

The administration called it a success and moved on.

Takeaways​

The Hawley-Young flip is the most instructive moment in this entire episode. Two senators voted to let the full Senate weigh in — then, six days later, accepted a non-binding letter from the administration's top diplomat and changed their votes. Whether this was always the plan, or whether Rubio's outreach genuinely persuaded them, the result is the same: the Senate's one real chance to assert authority over a war it never authorized collapsed under light pressure.

Interpeting Vance's tiebreaker vote, the executive branch had a direct say in whether Congress could constrain its power, and it used that vote to say "no, absolutely not". Congress has seldom looked weaker than in the second Trump administration.

The Vice President, a published author before his foray into government, swayed Congress by writing a letter. The storied "checks and balances" that define American government seem more mythological by the month under this administration. The chief executive decided to bomb a capital city and capture a head of state, and he suffered no institutional consequences.

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