Senate moves to restrict Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela

Amna Nawaz:

On Capitol Hill today, three major votes testing Trump's policies and U.S. policy on big issues, including military action in Venezuela and the expired Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins has been covering it all from chamber to chamber at the Capitol, where she joins me now.

So, Lisa, let's begin in the Senate, where we saw a rare rebuke there of the president on the issue of Venezuela. What happened?

Lisa Desjardins:

Right.

The Senate voted today to advance in a bill that would essentially say the U.S. can no longer add any military troops or -- in or around Venezuela. It would essentially ban much of what the president has said he would be doing. According to the supporters of it, it would mean no blockade, none of that.

This was a vote to advance that idea into next week. And in the end, it was a dramatic vote. We didn't know if it had the votes to pass going into the chamber. It did pass, thanks to five Republicans in the Senate who sided with Democrats. You can take a look at who those five Republicans are, two of them unexpected, Senators Josh Hawley and Todd Young.

They were someone who had criticized the president on this, but we weren't sure if they were actually going to vote against him in the end. They did. So, as I say, this was procedural, but it's important because it means next week there will be a full debate on the military action in Venezuela and there will be a vote on this bill. It is expected to pass.

Now, it has a steep uphill climb in the House, and President Trump has threatened to veto this bill. So, in a way, it is symbolic, but it's a very important symbol, because this is Congress asserting congressional power for maybe one of the first times at least this term of office against President Trump, and it is about a specific instance.

I want to show you what this measure actually says, what it would do about Venezuela. It reads, reading from the text: "Congress hereby directs the president to terminate the use of the United States armed forces to hostilities within or against Venezuela unless explicitly authorized."

Now, as I say, it's about congressional power in a time when some, like Speaker Johnson, who I just spoke to yesterday, are indicating they really think the president can send the military almost anywhere without congressional authorization, short of a full-scale war. So it was an important vote today, and we will keep watching this next week.

Amna Nawaz:

I know you will indeed.

Meanwhile, let's turn now to the House, where lawmakers passed a three-year extension to those Affordable Care Act subsidies. That is despite opposition from Republican leadership. How did that pass and how likely is it to actually become law?

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right, strange, another loss for House Republican leaders on the same day in the other chamber.

This was brought to the floor by the rarest of means, a discharge petition, a literal petition which is a work-around the House leadership brought by moderate Republicans. And, today, it passed because 17 Republicans signed on to this three-year extension.

None of them think it's the perfect way to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies. But, Amna, what this vote today shows is so many of them are worried about the health care issue in November, worried about what the expiration of these subsidies mean for their constituents, that they were willing to push this.

Now, it was a bit of an easier vote because no one thinks this three-year extension will actually go anywhere. It was rejected by the Senate last year. But what this vote does mean today is, it puts pressure on the Senate, which is trying to negotiate some kind of fix.

Amna Nawaz:

So tell us a little bit more about that. What is happening on the Senate on this issue? And how possible is a deal to fix those expired subsidies there?

Lisa Desjardins:

OK, let's drill our focus on the Senate, because that is really where -- if the ACA subsidies are extended, that's where it will happen.

There is a framework now being discussed. I want to show you what's in it at the moment by bipartisan senators. First, it's a two-year extension of these enhanced subsidies with an income cap. It also would include in it an expansion of health care savings accounts and it would possibly extend that enrollment window.

Amna, the enrollment window ends one week from today for the Affordable Care Act. So, time is really of the essence. They do think perhaps they can do something retroactively if they don't figure this out all by next week, because they probably won't. But they're trying to get this done in the next month.

The other issue with this is abortion. Abortion Republicans say that the Affordable Care Act policy right now which separates abortion coverage is not enough. They want it to say that, on the Affordable Care Act, you won't even have the option for abortion coverage. They see that as a major problem.

Amna Nawaz:

There's another unusual vote I want to ask you about today, the House voting to uphold President Trump's first vetoes of his second term, even though those were bills that had passed unanimously.

Tell us what we need to understand about that Lisa.

Lisa Desjardins:

We have a real theme here today, right? It is all about President Trump and Republican policies being tested.

And this vote, I want to first talk about what exactly was in these bills that were vetoed. There were two of them. First, one of them dealt with a water pipeline that would be completed in Colorado. The other would be granting more land rights to the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida, which is in the Everglades.

Now, both of those bills were passed unanimously, as you said. But, afterward, the sponsor of the Colorado bill ran into kind of a political argument with the president, and the tribe also criticized Trump's ICE detentions center in the Everglades. So both of the sponsors believe they were vetoed for political retribution.

What it shows today, Amna, while these passed unanimously, these local bills, before, now roughly 180 Republicans voted against them, voted with the president, despite these being small-scale local bills.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, that is Lisa Desjardins getting her steps in on Capitol Hill covering both chambers for us today and some big votes.

Lisa, thank you very much.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.