US congressional leaders focus on Venezuela on first day back at the Capitolpublished at 20:45 GMT
Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill
Image source, ReutersSenate Majority Leader John Thune speaks during a press conference following Republicans’ weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill
I’m on Capitol Hill today, speaking with lawmakers on the House and Senate’s first day back of the new year.
Legislators were expecting to spend the first working week of the year talking about the Epstein files, healthcare costs, another government looming shutdown. Instead, there’s one thing on their minds: Venezuela.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune seems optimistic about the prospect of the US working with the Venezuelan energy industry in the wake of Maduro’s arrest.
“It’s not going to be a cost to the American taxpayer,” Thune tells reporters. “There ought be revenue coming into this country if we’re working in a way with Venezuela.”
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he hasn’t heard as much information from the Trump administration as he’d like about its actions in Venezuela.
Image source, ReutersSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Schumer says he doesn’t have answers to how the US is running the South American country – as Trump stated over the weekend – for how long or at what cost.
In response, the minority leader said that Democrats’ number one focus in the Senate – when it comes to Venezuela – is passing the War Powers Resolution Act (a law that checks the president’s power to get the US involved in a war without the consent of congress) on Thursday, adding they only need two Republicans to join them.
Congressional leaders are hoping more might be revealed tomorrow, when senior Trump administration officials are expected to brief both chambers over the Venezuela operation.