US Senate votes to stop military action in Venezuela

The United States Senate has voted to advance a resolution that would bar President Donald Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela without congressional authorisation.

The Senate voted 52 to 47 on a procedural measure to advance the war powers resolution on Thursday, January 8, 2026, as a handful of Trump’s fellow Republicans voted with every Democrat in favour of moving ahead toward a final vote on the matter.

Trump told the New York Times in an interview published on Thursday that the U.S. could oversee Venezuela and control its oil revenue for years.

He also appeared to lift a threat of military action against Venezuela’s neighbor, Colombia. Trump invited Colombia’s leftist leader, whom he had previously called a “sick man,” to visit Washington.

The president said “only time will tell” how long the United States will oversee Venezuela.

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When asked if it would be three months, six months, a year or longer, Trump said: “I would say much longer.”

“We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,” Trump of Venezuela, where he sent troops to seize President Nicolas Maduro in a night raid on Saturday.

He added that the U.S. was “getting along very well” with the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, a longstanding Maduro loyalist who had served as the ousted leader’s vice president.

Venezuela’s top lawmaker, Jorge Rodriguez, told Reuters on Thursday that a significant number of foreign and Venezuelan prisoners would be freed during the day.

The Star