REFLECTING ON IMPACT OF ILLEGAL ACTION IN VENEZUELA

On 2026-01-08, Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9) delivered a floor speech titled "REFLECTING ON IMPACT OF ILLEGAL ACTION IN VENEZUELA" in the House. The speech addressed immigration and also covered taxes, the environment.

REFLECTING ON IMPACT OF ILLEGAL ACTION IN VENEZUELA

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026)] [House] [Pages H246-H250] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] REFLECTING ON IMPACT OF ILLEGAL ACTION IN VENEZUELA (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Kaptur of Ohio was recognized for 30 minutes.) Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend, I prayed, and thanks to God for saving the lives of every single one of our precious soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and intelligence officers who were deployed secretly to Venezuela by the President of the United States without consent of Congress. Importantly, this operation was planned and executed in violation of the United States Constitution, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: ``No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.'' That clause also requires publication of all publicly expended money, funds. [[Page H247]] None of that came to Congress, even in some of the most sequestered private meetings--nothing, no information, no support. This military operation expended billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer funds. The prior speaker, Congressman Schweikert, talked about the deficit going up. Well, where did the money that was not appropriated come from? No one could be more grateful than I that our valiant combat teams all came home safely. Without question, because of funds that have been provided over the years, their readiness and performance resulted in their safe return. However, the commanding officials who are responsible for their deployment have not responded to requests by Congress to report from which accounts the money was withdrawn-- billions and billions of dollars, for almost 6 months--for the deployment and actions in the Gulf and Atlantic theater. The Trump administration has failed to account for the funds that they have expended. Commanding officers and administration appointees have withdrawn billions and billions of dollars from the U.S. Treasury, from our taxpayers, without legal authority, as constitutionally required. For this, the executive branch and those who are in charge must be held accountable. That day will come. {time} 2020 The draw down of billions of Federal taxpayer dollars to conduct these military operations has been expended without a vote of Congress, nor even a notification. I can attest the administration has failed, despite two requests I have made in public and private meetings with the highest level of Department of Defense officials and this administration, to provide the Committee on Appropriations of both Chambers of Congress the details of which accounts were drawn down and how much will it be to carry out these costly continuing operations. Tonight, for a third time, I place on the public record asking the U.S. Department of Defense: What funds have been expended in years 2025 and are being expended currently, and from which specific accounts, and are projected to be expended from which accounts in this year of 2026 in the Venezuelan operations. Billions and billions and billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent and are being spent in the Gulf and Atlantic theater for these operations since midyear last year. Secretary of State Rubio has claimed the Venezuelan invasion was not a military operation. Do you believe that? He calls it a law enforcement action. Really? Did these funds flow from the Department of Justice? Congress doesn't know. Thousands upon thousands of America's finest have been positioned and missed holidays and family days on dozens of battleships, some lifted in the air and then dispatched to ground action. This operation was much more than a law enforcement action. It was an action of war and regime change in another nation. This country is powerful enough to do almost everything, but you can't violate the Constitution. That is different. Can Secretaries Hegseth and Rubio give us examples of other so-called law enforcement actions that have cost U.S. taxpayers billions and billions of dollars? Moreover, this Presidential administration has not legally appropriated a single dollar. Rather, it appears billions and billions of dollars have been expended, some might say illegally transferred and some might say stolen, from other Department of Defense accounts or from executive accounts or from other Federal agencies to conduct these costly Venezuelan operations. From where? So now the simple question: How much did it cost to capture the dictator of Venezuela, Maduro, and his wife? I ask, Mr. President, how much money and exactly from which accounts? Give me the specific numbers and accounting titles from which billions and billions of America's taxpayer funds were transferred. These shorted accounts are going to have to be refinanced. How and when? Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Rubio and perhaps OMB Director Russell Vought, their chief budget manager, it is your sworn constitutional duty to provide the American people which Defense or other Federal department and agency accounts have been shorted because you transferred untold billions of dollars to depose Venezuela's dictator Maduro and his wife. Do you know that our own citizens can't get through to the Social Security office because you have cut the staffing back so much? Do you have any idea what is actually happening at the local level in this country? No one in this Chamber is a fan of Maduro, and the people of Venezuela have a humongous, difficult task of building their country forward now, but why behave deceitfully when you swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States. Now, based on President Trump's press conference this past weekend, it seems that this lengthy and costly deployment of U.S. military into the Gulf and the Atlantic aims to reclaim very dirty crude oil deposits with out-of-date refineries in Venezuela. How many refineries are there? One? Who formerly owned them? Is it only the former Chevron facility? What is the business plan going forward, starting with how are we going to reimburse the accounts that were raided here? For the sake of the American people who are footing the big bill for all of this, here is an idea. What if Congress considers a taxpayer recovery fee on every Venezuelan or American energy company that will benefit from the heroism of America's military. How about putting some of that money into military housing, which is a disgrace. Let's refund it back to our taxpayers in the form of an energy rebate to help them pay their rising utility bills. That is, Congress could mandate that any company that draws up Venezuelan dirty crude oil for their corporate coffers should instead be required to share in the cost of the operation and rebate any profit to the hardworking American taxpayers. The military operations amount to billions of dollars, so any energy company benefiting from the heroism of our military should pay an energy tax refund to U.S. taxpayers. Think about it. U.S. energy prices are rising and even doubling across Ohio, our Buckeye State, and many other localities across our country due to the rise of data centers. Meanwhile, this administration is cutting off funds for modern energy systems. Wouldn't such a rebate not only be sensible but welcome and impactful for America's households that are seeing rising energy bills every month and rising water utility bills? Historically, the human lust for crude oil--and Venezuela's crude is very dirty--is legendary. It is a subject about which the American people are going to become even more keenly aware. Why? Because the blood of war and the quest for dirty crude oil are tightly bound. Far too many members of our military have lost their lives to defend the interests of dirty crude. That isn't always in the headlines, but underneath, that is exactly what it is. The Saudi oil kingdom is but one example of the bondage of blood and oil to military dictatorships and war. To gain a sense of it, I recommend a book, ``Sleeping With the Devil'' by Robert Baer. You will learn a lot about blood and war and the sacrifice of the people in our military of this country over several generations. Over the last three-quarters of a century in particular, the rush and fixation for crude has become a very costly cause of U.S. war deaths across our military forces. Thousands upon thousands of our war dead have been sacrificed in such conflicts for which I will now put figures on the Record. Over the last century, time and again, in war after war, excepting for World War II, but for the China-Burma-India theater, our most precious U.S. military has rendered hundreds of thousands of selfless Americans, men and women, who have been ordered to battle and sacrificed their lives to gain access to the world's crude oil deposits. The time for foreign oil conquests should be over. Frankly, America must not live in the past. We must keep inventing. We can't go back. We have got to go forward. Our energy future is right here at home. Over the last 50 years, new American energy sources have been invented. All exist in our homeland, with more to come. I am just so proud of the inventiveness of the American people. The discovery of natural gas in the Utica and Marcellus shale deposits at the border in Ohio [[Page H248]] and Pennsylvania is absolutely enormous, the largest on our entire continent. We are seeing whole communities changed and revitalized because of this. That was only made possible by the Department of Energy's invention of fracking technology since President Jimmy Carter first founded the Department when he was President of the United States in the 1970s. Ohio's nuclear industrialized north is being positioned to grow through fundamental modernization. That can't come soon enough for me. We have got to replace our 50-year-old nuclear power plants across this country. Our objective must be to make Americ