Key Republicans flip, kill effort to restrain Trump's policing power over Venezuela

By Fox News · Fox News

Senate Republicans successfully spiked a bipartisan attempt to curb President Donald Trump’s war powers authority after a pair of key GOP lawmakers reversed their positions. Republicans turned to a rarely used Senate procedure previously used by Senate Democrats in a similar situation to nullify the Venezuela war powers resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine , D-Va. The successful effort came after five Senate Republicans joined all Senate Democrats to advance the resolution last week. Their move drew heavy criticism and anger from Trump, who demanded that they "should never be elected to office again." SENATE GOP MOVES TO BLOCK DEMS' WAR POWERS PUSH, PRESERVE TRUMP'S AUTHORITY IN RARE MOVE The resolution was tanked on a 51 to 50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance coming in to break a tie in favor of Trump. Turning to the arcane procedural move served as a victory for both the president and Senate Majority Leader John Thune , R-S.D., after last week’s rare defeat on the floor. Thune, like several other Republicans, contended that the resolution was not germane to the issues at hand in Venezuela. "We don't have troops in Venezuela. There is no kinetic action, there are no operations," Thune said. "There are no boots on the ground. And I think the question is whether or not there ought to be expedited consideration or privilege accorded to something that's brought to the floor that doesn't reflect what's what is current reality in Venezuela." "And so I think it's very fair for Republicans to question why we ought to be having this discussion right now, particularly at a time when we're trying to do appropriations bills ," he continued. TRUMP RIPS INTO GOP DEFECTORS AS 'REAL LOSERS' AS SENATE READIES FOR FINAL VOTE Thune, Senate Republican leadership, Trump and several administration officials launched a pressure campaign on the five original defectors who helped Senate Democrats advance the bill. While not every lawmaker flipped, Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Todd Young, R-I…