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, reached day 39 with the heaviest strikes yet on Iran, confirming over 9,000 targets hit, more than 130 naval vessels destroyed, and at least 55 senior regime leaders killed—including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on March 1, IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri on March 26, and on April 6, IRGC intelligence chief Majid Khademi and Quds Force Unit 840 head Yazdan Mir in US-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran. Key escalations include Iran's March 18 missile strikes on Israel and Gulf states, Qatar's expulsion of Iranian attachés after the March 19 Ras Laffan attack, the Israeli airstrike killing IRGC spokesman General Ali Mohammad Naeini on March 20, CENTCOM's March 21 update confirming 8,000 targets hit and air superiority, Iran's March 24 missile barrages on Tel Aviv, March 27 Israeli strikes on Iran's central naval arms production site and multiple ballistic missile factories in the Tehran area, Iran's April 2 launch of four missile salvos at Israel including cluster warheads, April 3's downing of a US F-15E Strike Eagle—the first American combat aircraft lost—and April 5's successful rescue of both crew members by US special operations forces after a two-day evasion and extraction operation.

Updated Apr 7

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 19

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