WASHINGTON

A bipartisan coalition of House lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a war powers resolution aimed at preventing the Trump administration from engaging in military hostilities in or against Venezuela without explicit congressional authorization.

The resolution — led by Representatives Jim McGovern, Thomas Massie, and Joaquin Castro — comes amid growing concerns over the administration’s military buildup around Venezuela to fight alleged drug traffickers.

The move follows President Donald Trump’s social media directive last Saturday declaring the airspace “above and surrounding Venezuela” to be “closed in its entirety,” leading some to fear a war was imminent.

“Donald Trump claimed he would put America first — instead he’s trying to drag us into an illegal war in Venezuela,” said McGovern in a statement.

“Whatever this is about, it has nothing to do with stopping drugs. Trump just pardoned the former President of Honduras (Juan Orlando Hernandez) who was convicted of sending cocaine to the U.S. And last year he pardoned a guy (Changpeng Zhao) who brought fentanyl in from China via the dark web. To me, this appears to be all about creating a pretext for regime change. And I believe Congress has a duty to step in and assert our constitutional authority. No more illegal boat strikes, and no unauthorized war in Venezuela," he added.

Massie said the Constitution does not permit the executive branch to unilaterally commit an act of war against a sovereign nation that hasn’t attacked the US.

"Congress has the sole power to declare war against Venezuela. Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution," he added.

Castro said Trump has put the US “at the brink of a war” with Venezuela without a debate or vote in Congress. “This resolution will ensure that every member of the House is on the record about sending service members to a war that Americans do not want.”

Additional cosponsors of the resolution include Representatives Ro Khanna, Sara Jacobs and Sydney Kamlager-Dove.