Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is raising alarm bells about what he sees as a dangerous drift toward military conflict with Venezuela, and he's not waiting until bombs start falling to say something about it.
Congress Is Giving Away Its War Powers
Schiff took to X on Sunday with a blunt message for his colleagues: the time to pump the brakes on President Donald Trump's Venezuela policy is right now, not after the shooting starts.
"The time to stop the Trump administration from dragging us into war with Venezuela is not after the bombs start falling. It's right now," he wrote.
In an accompanying video, Schiff warned that Congress can't "wait until we're at war with Venezuela to get Congress to finally do its job." His concern? Lawmakers have "already ceded our most important power, and that is the power of the purse," and now they're "ceding our war power as well."
Senate Republicans Get Blamed for Constitutional Abdication
Schiff didn't hold back when it came to assigning blame, pointing directly at Senate Republicans for what he called a failure to challenge the White House on constitutional grounds.
"Because of a lack of courage, of Senate Republicans, we are very much acting like an unnecessary constitutional afterthought," he said.
He went further, suggesting the Senate "might as well just go home," and accused the administration of treating Congress as "an unnecessary appendage." That's pretty harsh language for what's supposed to be a co-equal branch of government.
The Trump administration, for its part, says its Venezuela approach is designed to counter criminal networks connected to President Nicolás Maduro.
Bipartisan Concerns About Presidential Overreach
Schiff isn't the only one worried about congressional war powers being trampled. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned Sunday that Trump's "reckless" tactics are pushing the U.S. toward another expensive foreign entanglement, stressing that only Congress can authorize war.
Interestingly, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) made the same constitutional point, reminding everyone that Article I, Section 8 gives Congress alone the power to declare war. Greene has announced she'll be resigning from Congress effective January 2026.
Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) accused the administration of behaving as if the U.S. is already "at war" to justify military moves without a congressional vote. He urged the White House to either seek proper authorization or back off the escalation.
Meanwhile, Trump announced on Truth Social that all airspace over and around Venezuela is now "closed," directing airlines and others to steer clear of the region. That's the kind of language that typically accompanies military operations, not diplomatic pressure campaigns.
The constitutional question here is straightforward: who gets to decide when America goes to war? Congress says it does. The administration seems to be acting like that's optional.