Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) said he believes the Trump administration’s Cuba strategy is to “crush them to smithereens.”
President Trump says the US “may visit Cuba” after the Iran war ends
President Donald Trump said the United States “may stop in Cuba after we finish” the Iran war.
WASHINGTON — Days after Havana publicly rejected a U.S. request, a group of Democratic senators led by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine unsuccessfully tried to push a resolution barring President Donald Trump from taking unilateral military action in Cuba.
In a largely partisan vote on April 28, 50 Republicans and one Democrat blocked the bill from consideration in the Senate. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the Democrat who voted across the aisle.
Two Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposed the Republicans and joined Democrats in hopes of reining in Trump’s actions in the Caribbean nation.
Democrats aimed to prevent U.S. forces from conducting hostilities in or outside Cuba without Congressional approval. President Trump has threatened to take over Cuba, stoking concerns among Democratic lawmakers who fear the negotiations with Havana are a pretext for invasion.
“When the executive branch overreaches, it’s up to Congress to step up and check,” Kaine said on the Senate floor before voting against the bill. He has led similar efforts in the Senate to prevent military hostilities in Iran.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) told USA TODAY that he believes the Trump administration’s Cuba strategy is “to smash them into smithereens.”
“This is a policy that will cause even more suffering for more people,” he said. “Senator Kaine’s force resolution had a very solid basis.”
The Trump administration is in talks with Cuba’s government to lift the United States’ near-total oil embargo in exchange for broad economic and governance reforms and the release of detainees. But this week, in a show of good faith, the Cuban government ignored a U.S.-imposed deadline for the release of prominent political prisoners.
The president has not said what he will do about it, but this month he promised a “new dawn for Cuba” and said the United States “may stop” in the communist country once it finishes its military operation in Iran. USA TODAY exclusively reported in April that the Pentagon was preparing for possible operations on the island, located 90 miles south of Florida, in case President Trump took military action.
Democratic lawmakers have been trying to keep diplomatic negotiations going with limited resources. After two House progressives visited Havana, Democrats revived efforts to lift the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. They are also pushing legislation to the floor that would block President Trump’s ability to use federal funds to attack Cuba.
After the Senate resolution was defeated, Kaine hurried from the chamber. On his way home, he was asked whether regime change was imminent in Cuba, and he told reporters: “There’s no reason to believe that’s the case. I’m not saying it’s not.”
Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) did not elaborate on whether the Trump administration’s priorities in Cuba have been made clear to Republicans like himself. He told USA TODAY that he trusts Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator who is leading the talks, to handle Western Hemisphere issues.
“They couldn’t have had a better point man,” Hoeven said of Rubio, who is Cuban-American.
In the days leading up to the vote, Kaine said he was optimistic about Republican support for his bill. But hours earlier, Republican senators who might side with Mr. Trump had signaled they would not defy him.
Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young, who earlier this year voted in favor of a similar bill restricting strikes in Venezuela, told reporters that the vote on war powers “has turned into a partisan political exercise.”
“In my opinion, we haven’t really grappled with the question of what would happen if we suddenly pulled the troops out,” Young said.
