Given the recent headlines that President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to blow up three Venezuelan ships, the American people could rightly wonder if we are at war. It's a fair question, and one that Congress should be posing through oversight hearings.
The U.S. military blew up a ship on Sept. 2, killing all 11 people on board. On Sept. 15, the military struck again, this time sinking a second ship and killing three people, according to the Defense Department. And President Trump announced on Sept. 16 that, in fact, the U.S. military had "knocked off, actually, three boats." The third had not previously been disclosed.
President Trump has taken to social media to declare these attacks a success, and to warn Venezuela and other nations sending drugs to the United States to rethink their strategy. "We are hunting you!" the president declared.
Without question, the Venezuelan government is supporting and facilitating the transfer of illicit and lethal drugs into the United States. And, equally without question, the American people overwhelmingly want these foreign drugs to stop flowing into our country.
President Trump has a mandate from the American people to stop the illegal flow of drugs into our nation. After four years of open-border policies under President Joe Biden, which were an invitation for drug cartels to flood our streets and schools with illegal drugs, the 2024 election served as a referendum on the open-border chaos. President Trump has correctly read the mood of the American people, and he understands one of the defining issues of the 2024 election.
I have prosecuted criminals for 25 years and witnessed firsthand the devastation that illegal drugs cause in our communities. Believe me that I am never going to side with drug dealers. But I am a big fan of due process, the U.S. Constitution and the separation of powers.
The popularity of President Trump's actions to stop the flow of illicit drugs into our country, at our border and at the high seas, does not mitigate the need for declarations of war to come from Congress.
And that brings us back to the foundational question: Are we at war?
Our Founders understood that going to war was one of the most consequential decisions a nation ever makes. The transcripts from the Federal Convention reveal a debate among attendees about how to balance the requirement for swift-moving defensive actions, but also thoughtful deliberations to ensure that the nation would not be engaged in frequent wars.
The Founders resolved the question by deciding that the president, who could move more quickly, would be given the constitutional role of commander in chief of the armed forces, and would be granted the authority to repel immediate threats to the homeland. But Congress, the slower moving branch of government, and the one more accountable to the American people, would be constitutionally charged with declaring war.
President Trump has said that his directives to the military to blow up three ships (with a promise that even more ship-destroying maneuvers are on the way) are fully within his constitutional duty as commander in chief looking at defensive actions.
And he may be exactly right.
But the Constitution insists on getting that question correct. The only way to ensure that these ship-sinking exercises are defensive is for Congress to do its duty, and to perform adequate oversight.
Republicans in Congress are no strangers to oversight. When Biden was in office, the GOP engaged in almost weekly oversight hearings to examine the Biden administration's actions. But the Republicans' zeal for oversight evaporated when President Trump took office.
The only way to ensure that the United States does not get embroiled into a dangerous and protracted war with Venezuela is to engage in proper oversight. Questions are mounting about these three incidents at sea, but Republicans in Congress so far seem entirely disinterested in their constitutional responsibility to seek answers.
Republicans hold the majority in both the House and the Senate in large part because they made the case to the American people that they would be the rule-of-law presence in Washington, D.C.
So, how about the GOP recommits to being the party that stands for the rule of law and conducts the serious oversight that the Constitution requires of Congress? The American people deserve nothing less than a full accounting of our military's activities with Venezuelan ships.
-----------------------
Ken Buck served in the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2024 representing Colorado's 4th congressional district. To find out more about Ken Buck and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com
