WASHINGTON – Following Trump’s attack in Venezuela this weekend, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), an Iraq combat veteran, has been speaking out against the administration’s dangerous, short-sighted military action.
Before the Senate voted to advance Senator Kaine’s War Powers Resolution, Senator Gallego spoke on the Senate floor to highlight the parallels between the administration’s military actions in Venezuela and the lead up to the war in Iraq. Through interviews and statements throughout the week, Gallego has underscored that the American people do not want another forever war.
Watch what Senator Gallego has been saying this week below:
“Let’s be clear: The American public does not want this. The American public does not want another forever war. They want prices to be lower, they want to buy a house, they want to have their kids get a job. Right now, what’s happening with this president? He’s doing everything he can because he can’t control the things that people really care about, which is the ability to live a good American life because he doesn’t want to go against his rich buddies. So instead, he’s going to distract with all these wars. The problem with that is it’s going to get us in trouble, and it’s not going to get us anything. When it comes to everyday working-class people, their insurance is going up, health care premiums are going up, cars – you can’t afford to buy a car. You can’t afford to buy a home. Wages aren’t going up, and now your kids are graduating college and they can’t even get a job. And what is this guy doing? Only trying to figure out how to get contracts for all these big oil companies and try and take over further land in Greenland – whatever it is –but not dealing with the real issues that are happening right now at every day America. But what he will do is send your working-class kids to go fight for his little foreign wars.”
“At the end of the day when people are shooting, that is war. When you’re engaging with the power of the United States military, that is war. You need to get permission from us and part of that permission structure is important because we would ask, what is the day after plan? And then maybe we wouldn’t be in the situation where were all wondering what the hell is going to happen in the Western Hemisphere”
“The American public does not want this; the American public doesn’t want their boys and girls from Florida, from Nebraska, from Arizona to go fight for big oil. That’s not what this last election was about. How is that gonna bring the cost of living down? How is that gonna help be buy a house? How is that gonna help my kids graduate college and get a job? All its going to do is help the shareholders with big oil but its only gonna end up putting a bullet in the ass of the kid from Ohio.”
“Lo más importante que nosotros, como estadounidenses, debemos entender es que lo que sucedió hoy es legal. Por supuesto, es bueno que Maduro no esté allí. Por supuesto, es bueno que el pueblo de Venezuela tenga una oportunidad de libertad, de que Venezuela sea libre; eso tiene que venir de los venezolanos, no de los Estados Unidos, pero lo que sucedió hoy es ilegal.”
“What [Trump] is asking for is permission. He could’ve asked for permission. He could’ve asked anytime. What he doesn’t want is for us to tell him yes or no. What we’re going to ask is what is the reason? What is the cause, and what is the endgame? Who is going to occupy and who is actually in charge of Venezuela? Who is going to be dictating internally in Venezuela? And how is that going to make us any safer? There is no plan and pretext for what’s to happen post this action against Maduro.”
“When the American people have been very clear that they do not want to be occupiers again, we do not want to be the world police.”
“The whole MAGA crowd that’s been talking about ending wars has just been duped by their own man, who basically had been slowly calibrating us to the point where were going to get to this situation. Theres no reason why you should have F-35’s involved in a war; there’s no reason why you should have so many Navy shirts invoked in a war if you’re just doing a police action. All this is one more excuse for us to either occupy Venezuela, take their oil, more importantly you’re violating the constitution of the United States.
“These guys have no idea what they’re doing, no clue, they can’t even tell us who’s in charge of Venezuela right now. So now we are involved in this war, and thy can’t even tell us what the end goal of this is nor the result of what this is going to be and that’s not how we should be conducting ourselves.”
Inside Politics with Dana Bash
“Marco Rubio came into the Senate and talked with 100 senators and lie straight to our faces and said that this is not a regime change. Clearly, it is now a regime change. Now they’re saying like, no, this isn’t a war, we don’t need to talk to the Senate. Now they’re saying we’re going to occupy, we’re going to control, we’re going to blockade. Those are military actions. They need to get permission from Congress, and we need to make sure also we say, no, this is not the way we want to operate. There are better ways for us to deal with this. We can bring security to the Western Hemisphere. We can bring relief to these Venezuelan Americans and Venezuelans that have been preyed upon by the dictatorship. But certainly, we’re not going to go about it in this unconstitutional way.”
Watch more:
Read more:
- AP: Senate considers limiting Trump’s war powers after Venezuela raid [Stephen Groves and Joey Cappelletti, 1/8/26]
- Task and Purpose: For some veterans, the specter of Iraq and Afghanistan looms over the Maduro raid [Jeff Schogol, 1/5/26]
- KJZZ: Sen. Gallego on Venezuela: ‘American people did not ask for this, Congress did not authorize this’ [Bridget Dowd 1/4/26]
1/9/26