Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) joined Katy Tur on MS NOW to discuss the Trump Administration’s recent actions in Venezuela and the lack of Congressional involvement.
Strickland’s remarks can be viewed here.
Katy Tur, MS NOW Reporter: Joining us, Democratic Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland of Washington state. She is a member of the Armed Services Committee. Congresswoman, thank you very much for joining us. What is your reaction?
Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland: Well, my reaction this morning was ‘we did what?’
And I say this because Congress got no warning and no heads up that this was coming. And before we left for the holiday break, there were two war powers resolutions that were brought to the floor that barely failed. And so, I would expect that when we get back to D.C. on Tuesday – which by the way is January 6th – that there will be an attempt to bring those back. There were a few Republicans who voted with us on that, but unfortunately it failed.
And I’ll also point this out too. You know, this whole conversation – I think it was mentioned by one of your earlier speakers that Donald Trump is transactional. What he wants is access to those oil reserves. At the same time this is also a big distraction.
Look at the timing of this: we go back in session on Tuesday. We are going to talk about the Affordable Care Act premiums. We’re going to talk about January 6th, the Epstein Files, the economy – all those things that are so important to the American people. And what a coincidence, this happens. And so we want answers, we deserve them, and he can’t have a meeting with just the Republican Caucus. We have to make sure that the American people understand what’s going on. And for me, the most important question – what’s the plan and do they plan to put troops on the ground?
Tur: Yeah, you know you have Marjorie Taylor Greene with you on that. She was – in her profile in the New York Times which came out about a week ago – she was warning the President would go to war in order to distract. You know, that’s her opinion. That’s obviously your opinion as well.
You don’t – you’re not going to get a briefing from the President? I know he’s briefing House Republicans. You don’t expect that he’s going to be briefing the Democrats as well?
Strickland: You know, it’s ridiculous. Because you know, I think Jake – actually I think Jake Sherman posted it on social media saying that there’s going to be a briefing with the Republicans at Kennedy Center because that’s the proper name.
And I asked myself number one, is there a SCIF there? And number two, why isn’t the entire Congress being invited to this? There was a bipartisan meeting that was a classified briefing about what happened in Venezuela with those two boat strikes. This should be handled the same way.
And so, as I think about what we’re facing next week, again, we need to know what the plans are. You know, he basically tried to do something which we know is wrong.
Venezuela for all of their faults and for all the faults of the person who he brought – no, who he took – is still a sovereign nation. And what type of foreign policy does this send to people around the world saying ‘Well, if we don’t like whoever’s Head of State, we’ll just go in there and take them out and steal their natural resources.’ And so this is bad foreign policy. It sets a bad precedent. It’s unconstitutional. And on top of that, we need to have the war powers acts put into place so that anything that happens requires approval of Congress.
Tur: If there is need for boots on the ground in order for the United States to run the place as President Trump had said, does that need Congressional authorization? Maybe not a war powers authorization, but authorization for military action?
Strickland: Yes, it would require the authorized use of military force. And you know, I talk about as a Member of the House Armed Services Committee, I spend a lot of time talking about quality of life and what we can do to support our troops. And the best way we can support our troops and their families is to keep them out of war. And so, there will be a lot of questions from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, from the Armed Services Committee, and everyone who’s interested in this.
But I come back to the fact that yes this is happening, but it also is not a surprise of the timing. We’re going back to Congress next week. We have a lot of big issues that the American people care about. Their health care, the economy, the Epstein Files. We will be talking about January 6th. Which is kind of ironic here because the person that he took, Maduro, he actually did steal two elections. And Donald Trump tried to do that on January 6th, but he failed.
Tur: Congresswoman Strickland, thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate it. And thank you very much for sticking around with us. I know it’s been a bit of a fluid hour.
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