Kaine presses Trump on war powers but stayed quiet under Obama, Biden

Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, has repeatedly pushed to rein in President Donald Trump’s war authorities, but he has rarely gone this far for presidents in his own party.

Kaine’s argument has remained fairly consistent over the years that Congress should reassert its constitutional authority and decision-making power as military conflict approaches. And he either led or joined several efforts to make Trump serve nonconsecutive terms in order to limit his war powers.

But he never made the same kind of decision under former Presidents Barack Obama or Joe Biden, leading Republicans to question whether his desires were politically motivated or genuine.

SECRETARY RUBIO PLANS TO CONFRONT FORMER COLLEAGUES ON VENEZUELA POLITICS

Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, believes he had enough support on both sides to pass his war powers resolution, despite an intense pressure campaign from the White House and Republicans to kill the effort. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

No war powers resolution was introduced in the Senate during Obama’s term, but Kaine pushed back on his massive use of drones in the Middle East.

“I’ve been as consistent as possible, because I really embarrassed President Obama when he wanted to resort to military action in Syria without Congressional authorization,” Kaine said. “And I told him, you know, ‘You’re like my friend. But that’s, you know, a basic principle for me.'”

His latest attempt to curb future military action in Venezuela without congressional approval nearly succeeded in the Senate, but was ultimately killed by a rare procedural move coupled with an intense pressure campaign from Trump, his administration and Senate Republican leaders.

Before the first vote, which saw five Republicans split from their colleagues to advance the resolution, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., argued that Kaine’s latest initiative “does not reaffirm the powers of Congress.”

“There are Democrats in this room who are using the arrest of Nicolas Maduro not to promote American interests, but to attack President Trump,” Barrasso said.

KAINE VOWES NEW POWERS TO FIGHT AFTER SENATE BLOCKS TRUMP’S CONTROL OF VENEZUELA

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., argued that the push to constrain President Donald Trump’s war authorities was a messaging exercise with no real plan for success. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

And Barrasso’s sentiment built on a broader argument from several Republicans and top officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who charged that Kaine’s pressure was moot given that there were no troops on the ground in Venezuela and the administration had no plans for military action going forward.

Republicans who may have been poised to support Kaine’s effort argued that without a plan to overcome Trump’s almost guaranteed veto, it was nothing more than a messaging tactic.

“It’s a messaging exercise, and I think you would have more credibility if, at least, you had some elements, like troops on the ground to justify it,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital.

“I mean, if someone really wants to do something, if you sit down with me and say, ‘I can get all 67 votes, so I have a veto-proof majority, and here’s how I’m going to do it,’ that impresses me,” he continued.

Since Trump’s first term, Kaine has introduced or supported seven war powers resolutions. Each of these initiatives – four of which he led – were all aimed at curbing Trump’s military authority and reasserting Congress’ oversight role.

However, he rejected two of three Republican-led war power surges during Biden’s presidency, and notably voted for the same procedural measure used to kill his own resolution in Venezuela to reject another from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2024.

Cruz’s war powers resolution aimed to restrict Biden’s war authority as he pushed for the creation of a temporary pier on the Gaza coast to deliver aid to the country.

KEY REPUBLICANS REVERSE AND KILL EFFORTS TO RESTRICT TRUMP’S POLICE POWER OVER VENEZUELA

President Donald Trump walks on Marine One for his departure from the South Lawn of the White House, Washington, January 16, 2026. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Kaine argued that there was a marked difference between humanitarian missions and military action to explain his vote against Cruz’s resolution.

“That’s because building a humanitarian pier is not a hostile operation, is it? If that is a hostile operation, then the United States providing tsunami relief is a hostile operation,” Kaine said.

“But you know, what we are doing in Venezuela is hostilities,” he continued. “This is not about building a pier for humanitarian aid. That’s why I said the definition of hostility should not apply to humanitarian acts, okay? And I firmly believe that, and I would vote for it under presidents of both parties.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Yet Republicans countered that Kaine’s own war powers resolution was also void because there were no active or planned hostilities in the region.

“It’s pretty clear, the war powers only apply if you have troops on the ground,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital. “We don’t have troops on the ground in the places he’s talking about. So I’m not sure of the reasoning, but it seems unnecessary to me and certainly not worth favoring.”

Kaine has no plans to give up his quest for war powers while Trump is in office and indicated last week that he would introduce resolution after resolution to hammer the cracks forming in the Republican Party’s largely unified resistance to the president’s challenge to the war authorities.

This decision did not surprise many Republicans.

“I mean, he’s a Democrat, so he’s going to try to get some messages out there,” Tillis said. “I understand that, we do the same thing.”