Pentagon orders mobilization of Vermont’s 158th Fighter Wing to Caribbean as Trump ramps up conflict with Venezuela
BURLINGTON, VT – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today released the following statement on the deployment of the Vermont Air National Guard’s 158th Fighter Wing to support Operation Southern Spear:
“I want to thank our brave airmen for their faithful service to Vermont and the United States—and acknowledge the difficulty of leaving their families at home this holiday season. You have my full respect and gratitude.
“At the same time, I strongly oppose President Trump’s mobilization of the Vermont Air National Guard alongside thousands of other U.S. military units in what appears to be a relentless march to war. An undeclared war against the Venezuelan regime would be illegal under our Constitution. If this president—or any president—wants to start a war with Venezuela, which has not attacked us and is not a source of the fentanyl that is killing Americans, then he needs to seek authorization from Congress, as the authors of the Constitution intended.
“One of the gravest decisions Congress can make is to authorize the U.S. military to attack a sovereign nation—in this instance, a sovereign nation that has not attacked us. I will continue to urge my colleagues—Democrats and Republicans—not to cede our constitutional authority for a war of choice based on lies.”
Senator Welch recently spoke on the Senate Floor urging Congress to reassert its constitutional authority and pass new legislation to prohibit the unauthorized use of U.S. Armed Forces in hostilities in Venezuela. In October, Senator Welch voted in support of a War Powers Act Resolution led by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to stop President Trump’s unconstitutional attacks in the Caribbean Sea and urged the Senate to question President Trump’s legal authority to take the United States to war. Senator Welch also led every Senate Judiciary Committee Democrat in demanding answers from the Department of Justice about the legality of military actions ordered by President Trump that have now killed at least 87 civilians in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
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