Hi John, this is a long email that I hope you’ll read about the Trump administration’s military operations in Venezuela this week:

After a year of lawlessness at home, Donald Trump is once again lashing out, without thinking about the consequences.

His Secretary of Defense talks of vengeance and “effing around and finding out,” and his Attorney General seeks to impose the “wrath” of the justice system however Donald Trump sees fit.

And for far too long, Congress has done nothing to stop it. Nothing.

Congress has the power to declare war and check the president, including this one who flagrantly violates his oath of office and breaks the law. That puts not just our citizens at risk, but endangers our interests abroad, too.

But more than just talking, I’ve been doing something about it, along with Tim Kaine and Rand Paul.

Over the past few months, as Trump massed American servicemembers and firepower in the Caribbean, and used military force to destroy vessels and kill those on board, I forced bipartisan votes to stop the illegal misuse of our armed forces. We warned that the true motive was not drugs, but regime change in an oil-rich nation.

Something Trump made plain in his address — this was about oil and power, not about drugs. If it were about drugs, he wouldn’t have just pardoned the drug-running former president of Honduras.

Listen, nobody will mourn for Nicolás Maduro. He was a thug and an illegitimate leader of Venezuela, terrorizing and oppressing its people for far too long and forcing many to flee the country. But using military power to remove Maduro so that Trump’s cronies can profit from that nation’s oil wealth is not in our national interest. It doesn’t justify Donald Trump’s trampling of the Constitution. And it further erodes America’s standing on the world stage and risks our adversaries mirroring this brazen act, like in Taiwan or Ukraine.

Donald Trump is clear: he launched this war to remove a foreign leader, and now, he claims the U.S. will “run the country.” In other words, Donald Trump wants the U.S. to be an occupying power and control the oil proceeds.

Look, our service members performed their mission with enormous courage and skill. They are the best and most capable military in the world. But the public wants action to lower costs at home, not to risk the lives of service members abroad in another endless war.

John, acting without Congressional approval or the buy-in of the public, Trump risks plunging a hemisphere into chaos and has broken his promise to end wars instead of starting them. And in conjunction with his continued saber-rattling around the world and dropping approval ratings at home, the American people should be concerned that this is not the last time he will break that promise. By the administration’s logic, Trump can send our military anywhere in the world and be the sole decider of when to risk war. Not the American people. Not Congress.

We need to rein in this power. John, Congress must bring up a new War Powers Resolution and reassert its power to authorize force or to refuse to do so. If you agree, please add your name in support today.

SIGN THE PETITION

For far too long, under both Democratic and Republican presidents, Congress has failed on a bipartisan basis to do its job and vote on whether to send the nation’s service members to war. It’s our most basic responsibility.

But we have a chance to act now. And we must.

We must speak for the American people who profoundly reject being dragged into new wars.

Americans, especially our military families, deserve better than a President who will so openly break his promises of peace when there’s oil profits on the line.