WASHINGTON, D.C. – In remarks from the Senate floor this week, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, questioned the legality of the President’s recent military actions in the Caribbean Sea and demanded that Congress assert its constitutional obligation to determine where and why the United States goes to war.
“Laws matter, and the Constitution matters. If the President does want to start a war, if he wants to put America’s troops in harm’s way, he needs to seek authorization from Congress,” said Senator Welch. “It’s up to the Senate to do its job. We have seen from history that our failure to assert our constitutional responsibility to decide whether to send our military to war has resulted in grievous suffering for the American people and a weakening of our national security. In asserting our responsibility, at the bare minimum, this United States Senate should demand—should demand—to see Attorney General Bondi’s legal analysis that the President has used to justify the use of the U.S. military to engage in these attacks.”
Watch Senator Welch’s speech below:
Read key excerpts from Senator Welch’s remarks:
“This President—no President—has the legal authority without congressional authorization to take America into military conflict. There have been no credible legal experts that have defended the President’s actions, with one exception—and, of course, and that is the Attorney General, who has provided an opinion to the President. We are told, but have not seen, that what he’s doing is ‘legal.’ That’s without precedent. It’s without precedent for the top legal official in this country to give an opinion that it’s legal to go to war without congressional authorization.
“But it’s clearly the legal advice the President wanted and won’t even share with the members of the United States Senate. The President, of course, seems to be basing the legality of these actions on the declaration that drug traffickers are terrorists….But simply the determination by the President that he’s attacking a group of what he calls terrorists, ‘narco-terrorists,’ does not by itself make it legal under the Constitution.”
The Senator also condemned the Trump Administration for undermining efforts to curb drug trafficking, which has had devastating impacts on communities in Vermont and across the country:
“All of us are on board, Republicans and Democrats, with the fight against narcotics, illegal drugs—fentanyl in particular—which mostly enter the U.S. through Mexico and on the Pacific Ocean. They are wreaking havoc on our communities. It’s happened in Vermont, as well as West Virginia, Idaho, Florida, Montana, every other state, our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers are struggling with addiction and dying from overdose….This has not been a partisan issue,” said Senator Welch. “But why are we spending billions of dollars in this effort in Venezuela, while at the same time taking funding away for treatment programs here at home that actually have been proven effective to help the most vulnerable Americans that are actually struggling with addiction to fentanyl and other drugs?”
“So, when the President claims his new war is about ‘protecting’ America from drugs, it’s a fair question: why are we doing so little? Why are we taking money away from treatment? Why are we taking money away from high-intensity drug enforcement? Why are we not prosecuting more, instead prosecuting so much less?”
Today, Senator Welch led every Senate Judiciary Committee Democrat in demanding answers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) about the legality of military actions ordered by President Trump that have already killed 57 individuals in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
Learn more about Senator Welch’s work by visiting his website or by following him on social media.
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