Update | US Senate rejects Trump's military threats against Venezuela with war powers vote

The United States Senate advanced a resolution Thursday that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela. The move signals a note of disapproval forTrump's expanding ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

It has virtually no chance of becoming law because Trump would have to sign it if it were to pass the Republican-controlled House of Represenatives. Still, it was a significant gesture that showed unease among some Republicans after the US military seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid over the weekend.

Democrats and five Republicans voted today to advance the war powers resolution on a 52-47 vote and ensure a vote next week on final passage.

Trump’s administration is now seeking to control Venezuela’s oil resources and its government, but the war powers resolution would require congressional approval for any further attacks on the South American country.

“To me, this is all about going forward,” said Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, one of the five Republican votes. “If the president should determine, ‘You know what? I need to put troops on the ground of Venezuela.’ I think that would require Congress to weigh in.”

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The other Republicans who backed the resolution were Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young of Indiana.

Trump reacted to their votes by saying on social media that they “should never be elected to office again" and that the vote “greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security.”

Democrats had failed to pass several such resolutions in the months that Trump escalated his campaign against Venezuela. But lawmakers argued that now that Trump has captured Maduro and set his sights to other conquests such as Greenland, the vote presents Congress with an opportunity.

“This wasn’t just a procedural vote. It’s a clear rejection of the idea that one person can unilaterally send American sons and daughters into harm’s way without Congress, without debate,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Republican leaders have said they had no advance notification of the raid early morning Saturday to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, but mostly expressed satisfaction this week as top administration officials provided classified briefings on the operation.

Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, who forced the vote on the resolution, said he believes many Republicans were caught off guard by the outcome.

He said that Trump’s recent comments to The New York Times suggesting US oversight in Venezuela could last for years — combined with details revealed in the classified briefings — prompted some lawmakers to conclude that “this is too big to let a president do it without Congress.”

The administration has used an evolving set of legal justifications for the monthslong campaign in Central and South America, from destroying alleged drug boats under authorizations for the global fight against terrorism to seizing Maduro in what was ostensibly a law enforcement operation to put him on trial in the United States.