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The Senate moved Thursday to curb President Donald Trump’s ability to launch additional attacks against Venezuela, advancing a resolution led by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine amid growing concern over the administration’s military ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

Democrats and five Republicans voted 52-47 to advance the measure, guaranteeing a later vote on final passage. The resolution would require congressional approval before further attacks against the South American country.

Its chances of becoming law are remote. Even if it clears the Republican-controlled House, Trump would have to sign it or Congress would need enough votes to override his veto. Still, the vote exposed unease within the president’s party after U.S. forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a surprise nighttime raid.

The administration is now seeking control over Venezuela’s government and oil resources.

“It’s time for Congress to assert its control over military action of this kind, and it’s time to get this out of secrecy and put it in the light,” Kaine said.

Republicans split over congressional authority

Democrats had unsuccessfully pursued several war powers measures as Trump escalated his campaign against Venezuela. They argued that Maduro’s capture, along with the president’s interest in places including Greenland, gave the Republican-controlled Congress another opportunity to reclaim its constitutional authority.

Republican leaders said they received no advance notice of the early-morning Jan. 3 operation. Most nevertheless expressed satisfaction after administration officials delivered classified briefings about the raid.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota defended the president’s approach.

“I think the president has demonstrated at least already a very strong commitment to peace through strength, especially in this hemisphere,” Thune said. “I think Venezuela got that message loudly and clearly.”

The administration has offered changing legal grounds for its monthslong campaign in Central and South America. Those explanations have ranged from using global anti-terrorism authorities to destroy alleged drug boats to describing Maduro’s capture as a law enforcement operation intended to bring him to trial in the United States.

Before Thursday’s vote, Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina said they were weighing the resolution carefully after opposing similar measures in the past.

“We have a history of going in, liberating and leaving. I’m interested in the leaving part,” Tillis said.

Asked whether he would support sending ground troops into Venezuela, Tillis replied, “Not without congressional authorization.”

A comparable resolution narrowly failed in November, when Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the only members of their party to support it.

Paul acknowledged that Maduro is widely viewed as a “bad guy,” as well as “a socialist and an autocrat.” But he said the central issue was more fundamental: “The question is about who has the power to take the country to war?”

Some progressive Democrats have proposed adding restrictions on military operations to a defense spending bill. Democratic leaders resisted that strategy while portraying Trump’s international agenda as a distraction from domestic concerns.

“The American people are asking what the hell is going on in Venezuela and why is this president, who campaigned on ‘America First,’ now spending all his time and energy on escapades overseas?” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said.

Virginia lawmakers condemn the operation

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, called Maduro “a corrupt authoritarian who has repressed his people” in a statement after the raid. He said that record did not authorize Trump to disregard the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to approve military force.

“America’s strength comes from our commitment to the rule of law, democratic norms, and constitutional restraint,” Warner said. “When we abandon those principles, even in the name of confronting bad actors, we weaken our credibility, endanger global stability, and invite abuses of power that will long outlast any single presidency.”

Reps. James Walkinshaw and Suhas Subramanyam, whose districts include parts of Fairfax County, also denounced the Venezuela operation as illegal.

Walkinshaw accused Trump of starting a regime-change war after promising voters there would be no new conflicts. Subramanyam warned that the United States could become trapped in “potentially another forever war started under false pretenses.”

A decades-old law faces another test

Congress was not informed before the Venezuela raid. Trump later confirmed that he had spoken with oil executives but not congressional leaders about the operation.

The episode intensified a long-running dispute over presidential war powers. The Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war and makes the president commander in chief, but lawmakers have not formally declared war since World War II. Presidents have instead exercised increasingly broad power to use the military without prior approval.

Congress sought to impose limits after the Vietnam War by passing the War Powers Resolution over President Richard Nixon’s veto. It requires a president to notify lawmakers within 48 hours of deploying forces and generally end unauthorized military action within 60 to 90 days. Presidents from both parties have repeatedly stretched those restrictions.

Democrats say Trump is pushing the limits further than his predecessors. Some Republicans argue that a commander in chief does not need congressional approval to use military force.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who traveled with the president aboard Air Force One on Sunday, said he would be comfortable with Trump taking control of other countries without lawmakers’ consent, including Greenland.

“The commander in chief is the commander in chief. They can use military force,” Graham said.

Greenland draws a sharper warning

The administration’s interest in Greenland could create another confrontation with Congress. The White House has said the military remains an option in pursuing American control of the world’s largest island.

Although Republicans have emphasized Greenland’s strategic importance, most have rejected using force and instead favored a possible purchase. Greenland is part of Denmark, a NATO ally, making the prospect of military action especially contentious.

Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego said he was preparing a resolution to prevent Trump from invading Greenland.

“We must stop him before he invades another country on a whim,” Gallego wrote on X. “No more forever wars.”

Kaine said Wednesday that a Greenland resolution would be filed soon. He also pointed to potential measures involving Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Nigeria.

Paul said Republican senators discussed Greenland during their Wednesday luncheon and that he heard “zero support” for using military force to seize it.

Tillis, co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, also criticized White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller for suggesting that the United States should take control of Greenland. He called the comments “amateurish” and “absurd.”

“This nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing,” Tillis said of Trump. “And the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs.”