WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate rejected a war powers resolution to preemptively block U.S. forces from conducting military operations against Venezuela on Thursday.
The measure failed in a 49 to 51 vote. It needed 60 votes to advance.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) sponsored the resolution with support from Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
U.S. forces have recently conducted more than a dozen lethal strikes against vessels operating in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September. The Trump administration said these vessels have been operated by drug traffickers.
President Donald Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of backing drug cartels in the country, and has more recently raised the prospect of conducting lethal strikes on land-based drug trafficking targets in Venezuela….