Rand Paul

Force in Play

Co-leading bipartisan war powers resolution

Operation Epic Fury, launched jointly by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, has escalated dramatically into its third week with expanded targeting, regional escalation to Gulf state civilian infrastructure, and the first significant fracture within the Trump administration's national security apparatus. By March 17, the campaign had struck more than 15,000 Iranian targets using precision munitions, destroyed over 20 Iranian naval vessels including the country's top submarine, and killed 49 senior Iranian regime leaders including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On March 13, US forces executed a large-scale precision strike on Kharg Island—Iran's critical oil export hub—destroying 90+ military targets including naval mine storage facilities and missile bunkers while deliberately preserving oil infrastructure as a strategic warning. Iran has retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones across the Persian Gulf region, killing at least 13 American service members and escalating attacks on non-US targets in neighboring Gulf states, including fatal strikes on Abu Dhabi and drone attacks near Dubai's airport and Fujairah Oil Industry Zone. On March 17, Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, became the first senior Trump administration official to resign over the war, stating Iran "posed no imminent threat" and that the US entered the conflict "due to pressure from Israel." The operation represents the largest sustained US aerial campaign in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion, but now faces mounting questions about its legal basis, military end state, and whether an air war can achieve the administration's promise of "freedom for Iran."

Updated 3 hours ago

Rule Changes

Lone Republican vote in favor of constraining presidential war authority

The War Powers Resolution has been on the books for 53 years, designed to prevent a president waging a major war without Congress voting to authorize it. On March 5, with American troops engaged in combat against Iran and at least six service members dead, the Senate voted 47-53 to reject a resolution requiring presidential approval from Congress before continuing military operations, followed hours later by the House rejecting its parallel measure H. Con. Res. 38.

Updated Mar 6

Force in Play

Voted against administration despite White House pressure

Congress last declared war in 1942. Since then, presidents have ordered military strikes 212 times without formal declarations—but never quite like this. On January 3, 2026, U.S. special forces raided the Venezuelan capital, captured President Nicolás Maduro in his residence, and flew him to New York to face narcoterrorism charges. Eleven days later, Vice President JD Vance cast the deciding vote to kill a Senate resolution that would have required congressional authorization for further military action. Now, over a month after the raid, the operation faces mounting legal challenges: Maduro's defense team filed motions on February 4 questioning the federal court's jurisdiction over the extraordinary rendition case, while the International Court of Justice and UN human rights bodies have issued statements characterizing the operation as a violation of international law.

Updated Feb 6

Force in Play

Leading congressional critic of boat strikes and Venezuela operation

On December 5, 2025, the Trump administration released a 33‑page National Security Strategy (NSS) that formally revives a 19th‑century idea of the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence, declaring a Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and promising to reassert American preeminence across the Americas. The document codifies a shift already visible in 2025 military operations: air and missile strikes on alleged drug‑trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that had killed at least 115 people in 35 strikes by year‑end, the designation of major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and naval deployments around Venezuela. This campaign, formally named Operation Southern Spear on November 13, 2025, culminated on January 3, 2026, when U.S. forces launched Operation Absolute Resolve, a large‑scale military strike on Caracas that captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, placing them in U.S. custody on narco‑terrorism charges—the first forcible regime change under the Trump Corollary.

Updated Jan 4

Force in Play

Calling the tanker seizures a provocation

The U.S. Coast Guard is now chasing a third Venezuela-linked tanker in international waters near Venezuela—under a judicial seizure order. Two other tankers have already been stopped in the past 11 days, including one dramatic helicopter boarding that the administration amplified on social media.

Updated Dec 21, 2025