On the recordMay 7, 2019
After meeting with President Trump yesterday regarding the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, I rise to praise the Trump administration for its mindful and strategic response to conditions in that country. All options must be on the table, including military force. My constituents would likely be among the first in that fight. I am incredibly proud of them. If asked, they will successfully execute any mission that they are called to do. Policymakers have an obligation not to send any of America's sons and daughters into any ill-advised conflict. The Trump administration clearly understands the risks associated with military intervention in Venezuela at this time. They include a few things. First, if the United States military were to have troops on the ground in Venezuela today, it is very likely that the Maduro regime would scapegoat their own failures. The people of Venezuela voted their way into socialism, and now it appears they have to fight their way out of it. While this should be a lesson to us all, military intervention should not be presented as an opportunity for the Maduro regime to explain away why people in Venezuela have no medicine, have no food, are starving, and at times see their own countrymen turning tanks and weapons against them. Those failures belong to the Maduro regime. Those failures belong to the socialist dictatorship.…
