WASHINGTON: Democratic and Republican United States senators said on Wednesday (Jan 7) they expected the Senate would eventually vote on legislation seeking to rein in President Donald Trump’s ability to attempt to seize Greenland from Denmark, a long-time US ally.
In recent days, Trump has repeated that he wants to gain control of the mineral-rich Arctic island. On Saturday, the US sparked international consternation by sending in special forces to seize Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, prompting questions about whether he planned further such actions.
“You will see war powers resolutions introduced on Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, Greenland,” Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democratic senator who has led several resolutions seeking to check US presidents’ use of military force without congressional approval.
“I just don’t know who’s necessarily going to be leading all of them, because I will likely be at least a co-sponsor and probably leading some,” Kaine told reporters at a news conference ahead of a Senate vote expected on Thursday on whether to halt further military action in Venezuela without lawmakers’ approval.
Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a co-sponsor of the Venezuela resolution, said he would “keep an open mind” on whether to support any such resolutions.
Paul added that he had not heard any of his fellow Republicans express support for military action to take Greenland. He called such threats unproductive if the administration wants to buy the mineral-rich Arctic island.
“If I wanted to buy Greenland, I’d be doing PR (public relations) events up there, I’d be showering them with gifts, I would be talking to the people of Greenland about how they could be a part of the US and have their independence. That there’d be great benefits to be under our defence umbrella, and also economic benefits,” Paul said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the Senate earlier on Wednesday he would meet leaders of Denmark next week to discuss Greenland, but signalled no retreat from Trump’s aim to take over the island, as alarmed allies, including France and Germany, worked on a plan on how to respond.
Citing the Constitution’s requirement that only Congress, not the president, has the right to declare war, Kaine, Paul and other lawmakers have tried and failed repeatedly in recent months to pass resolutions that would have prevented Trump from attacking Venezuela without congressional authorisation.