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“President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics,” said Sen. Jim Risch, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Still, the vote allowed Democrats to press their GOP colleagues on Trump’s threats against Venezuela. The legislation failed to advance 49-51, with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republicans voting in favor.

U.S. naval forces are building , including its most , in the Caribbean Sea, leading many to the conclusion that Trump’s intentions go beyond just intercepting cocaine-running boats.

“It’s really an open secret that this is much more about potential regime change,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who pushed the resolution. “If that’s where the administration is headed, if that’s what we’re risking — involvement in a war — then Congress needs to be heard on this.”

The push for congressional oversight

As the Trump administration has reconfigured U.S. priorities overseas, there has been a growing sense of frustration among lawmakers, including some Republicans, who are concerned about recent moves made by the Pentagon.

At a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier Thursday, Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair, said that many senators have “serious concerns about the Pentagon’s policy office” and that Congress was not being consulted on recent actions like , reducing the number of and the formulation of the şĂÉ«tv Defense Strategy.

GOP senators have directed their ire at the Department of Defense's policy office, which is led by Elbridge Colby, an official who has advocated for the U.S. to step down its involvement in international alliances.

“It just seems like there’s this pigpen-like mess coming out of the policy shop,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, during another armed services hearing earlier this week.

As pushback has mounted on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration has stepped up its briefings on the campaign in the Caribbean, including sending both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to a for congressional leaders on the strikes against vessels. The officials gave details on the intelligence that is used to target the boats and allowed senators to review the legal rationale for the attacks, but did not discuss whether they would launch an attack directly against Venezuela, according to lawmakers in the meeting.

Still, Democrats have pushed into the unease among Republicans by forcing a vote on the potential for an attack on Venezuela under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was intended to reassert congressional power over the declaration of war.

“We should not be going to war without a vote of Congress. The lives of our troops are at stake,” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who pushed the legislation, said in a floor speech.

A previous war powers vote pertaining to the strikes against boats in international waters failed last month on a 48-51 vote, but Kaine said he was hoping to peel off more Republicans with a resolution that only pertains to attacks on Venezuela.

Some Republicans are uneasy with Caribbean campaign

Republican leadership pressed Thursday to make sure the legislation failed, and many GOP senators expressed support for Trump's campaign, which has killed at least 66 people in .

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a Trump ally, argued in a floor speech that the War Powers Act gave lawmakers too much power over military decisions and that Congress has other means to check the president's decisions.

“I like the idea that our commander-in-chief is telling narco-terrorist organizations you're not only a foreign terrorist organization, but when you engage in threats to our country — a boat headed to America full of drugs — we're going to take you out,” Graham said.

But several senators still carefully considered their vote.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, another Republican who voted against, said that he still has doubts about the campaign. He pointed out that it was expensive to change the deployment location for an aircraft carrier and questioned whether those funds could be better used at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop fentanyl trafficking.

Tillis said that if the campaign continues for several months more, “then we have to have a real discussion about whether or not we're engaging in some sort of hybrid war.”

Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, said in a statement that he voted against the legislation because he didn't believe it was “necessary or appropriate at this time.”

But he added that he was “troubled by many aspects and assumptions of this operation and believe it is at odds with the majority of Americans who want the U.S. military less entangled in international conflicts.”

Still, Democrats argued that the Trump administration was using a flimsy legal defense for an expansive military campaign that is putting U.S. troops and the nation's reputation at risk. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services, charged that Trump is engaging in “violence without a strategic objective” while failing to take actions that would actually address fentanyl smuggling.

“You cannot bomb your way out of a drug crisis,” he said.