Senate rejects attempt to end Trump’s blockade of Cuba

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday rejected Democratic legislation that would have required President Donald Trump to end the U.S. energy blockade on Cuba unless he gets congressional approval.

The vote on the war powers resolution showed the extent to which Republicans continue to support Trump as he acts unilaterally to exert American force in a series of global conflicts, including in Venezuela, Iran and Cuba – one of the United States’ closest neighbors and yet a longtime adversary.

Democrats have repeatedly forced the passage of laws aimed at controlling the president’s ability to deploy military force in these conflicts, but none have been successful. Tuesday’s vote was the first involving Cuba and would have required the president to obtain congressional approval before launching attacks on the island nation.

In rejecting the resolution, Republicans said it was out of order because the United States is not engaged in outright hostilities with Cuba. Their maneuver to reject the bill succeeded by a score of 51-47. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote to reject the resolution, while Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky were the only Republicans to support it.

The Caribbean island is suffering water and power outages as the United States imposes sanctions and cuts off oil shipments from Venezuela. The Trump administration is pressuring Cuban leaders to end political repression, release political prisoners and liberalize their struggling economy.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who introduced the war powers resolution, said the blockade had caused “humanitarian crises across Cuba,” including disrupting medical care, leaving millions without clean water and driving up food prices.

“My argument is that under the terms of the resolution, we are already engaged in hostilities with Cuba because we are using American force, primarily the Coast Guard, but also other means, to engage in a very devastating economic blockade of the nation,” Kaine said.

Trump said that after the war with Iran, he would turn his attention to Cuba. He promised “a new dawn for Cuba” during a speech at a Turning Points USA event last week.

Democrats argued that the war powers resolution was also necessary to prevent Trump from launching a military campaign against the nation.

“The United States and Cuba must find a way to coexist peacefully,” said Senator Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont.

Democrats attempted to generate political opposition to Trump’s military actions by forcing the vote through the War Powers Act of 1973, which was intended to assert Congress’ power over declaring war.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida accused Democrats of ignoring human rights abuses by Cuban leaders.

“President Trump is doing everything he can to bring freedom and democracy across Latin America, and we should do everything we can to support him,” Scott said.