Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to the weekly report.

Congressional Republicans must stand up to the president on Venezuela. I recall when then-President

Barack Obama was planning to send troops to enforce his Assad-Musco policy in Syria.

Many Republican U.S. senators passionately argued that the U.S. president must come to Congress

for approval before sending U.S. troops into combat overseas.

At the time, they portrayed themselves as brave defenders of the U.S. Constitution.

Last week, when the Senate held a vote to remind President Trump that he is required

to seek approval from the legislative branch before launching

an attack on Venezuela, only two Republican senators stood up to defend the Constitution.

Why?

Perhaps because a Republican president was now in office.

According to Politico, war enthusiast Senator Lindsey Graham went so far as to say that Congress can't substitute our judgment for the Presidents when it comes to the decision

to attack Venezuela.

The Senator needs a refresher course in high school civics.

The U.S. Constitution requires Congress, as the branch most directly accountable to the people

to substitute its judgment for the presidents when it comes to warmaking.

We fought a war against George III negate the ability of a king to take the people to war on his whim.

Now, Congress scrambles to abrogate that hard-fought achievement

in the name of political expediency.

While the D.C. foreign policy blob made up of both parties is always pro-war, with each election,

we get a charade that one party or the other is standing up for the Constitution by challenging

a president of the other party on war powers.

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