AMNA NAWAZ: As we have been reporting, Congress has a lengthy list of priorities since returning this week, but it's been the administration's operation in Venezuela and what to do next that's dominated conversations on Capitol Hill.

GEOFF BENNETT: We get two views tonight, beginning with Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin, with whom I spoke earlier today.

Senator Slotkin, welcome back to the "News Hour."

SEN.

ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: The vice president, J.D.

Vance, today dismissed the war powers resolution that was advanced in the Senate and called the War Powers Act it was based on, he called it a fake and unconstitutional law.

President Trump posted on social media: "This vote greatly hampers American self-defense and national security, impeding the president's authority as commander in chief," to which you would say what?

SEN.

ELISSA SLOTKIN: Well, I would say my guess is the reason they're complaining so loudly is because it was a bipartisan vote.

We had five Republicans who voted with us who also agreed that, if you're going to go get the United States into a conflict, if you're going to go -- quote, unquote - - "own Venezuela," another country, you have got to come to Congress, according to the Constitution.

So I think they're complaining loudly because they don't like how the vote went, and that meant -- that means we're going to be voting on further pieces next week on this war powers resolution.

So, again, it's something that Democrat and Republicans, presidents, always sort of chafe under no matter who they are.

And I wouldn't be surprised if we went back and saw if Mr.

Vance was advocating for war powers issues when he was a senator.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump told The New York Times that the U.S.

oversight of Venezuela, in his words, could last much longer than a year and only time will tell how long the U.S.

will oversee that country.

As a former CIA officer, I know you did three tours in Iraq alongside the U.S.

military.

What do you see as the implications of a prolonged U.S.

engagement in Venezuela?

SEN.

ELISSA SLOTKIN: Well, first of all, I think we just have to acknowledge how -- what a 180 the president has done on these foreign entanglements.

He literally ran on no foreign wars and complained bitterly about Iraq and Afghanistan.

And here he is saying that we own Venezuela and it's going to be years that we're going to be responsible for it.

First of all, I don't think there's anyone, Democrat or Republican, who's looking to get into another prolonged conflict.

But I also think, like, my experience in Iraq is, everything we do militarily starts off as a limited plan, right?

Iraq was going to be short and in and out, Afghanistan, things like Vietnam.

So the president -- if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

His idea that this is going to be neat and clean and easy and we're going to make a lot of money from our oil companies, to me, is just a little bit of wishful thinking and certainly, given our history, not something that the average American is looking to do.

GEOFF BENNETT: The administration's decision to shift away from supporting Venezuelan opposition figures in favor of working with loyalists to the previous regime, what do you see as the impact of that approach on Venezuela's democracy movement?

SEN.

ELISSA SLOTKIN: Well, it's interesting because this -- the president said over and over and his folks said over and over that the government of Venezuela is illegitimate, right?

There was an election in 2022.

They didn't win.

They falsified that election.

And so they're not a legitimate government.

And now we're working with that illegitimate government.

And I think, just as importantly for the president's agenda, he's talked about the oil and the oil fields and getting American executives in there.

They don't want to do deals with an illegitimate government where they can be sued afterwards for that contract.

So, again, it's confusing to me why the president, who has spent all this time talking about getting rid of that administration, took out Maduro and is now working with this vice president.

GEOFF BENNETT: On the other hand, the administration argues its Venezuela strategy could revive oil revenues, fracture criminal networks, push back the influence that Russia and China has in the hemisphere.

If that turns out to be right -- I know Democrats have a lot of issues with the way this was done.

But if he turns out to be right, I mean, could this represent a new doctrine of us leadership in Latin America?

SEN.

ELISSA SLOTKIN: Well, I think certainly there's lots of talk in the hallways here that he's really taking sort of an approach where American leadership around the world is not really needed.

What we do care about is leadership in the hemisphere, right, in our backyard, and that different countries around the world would have zones of influence.

Russia would have Europe as a zone of influence.

China would have Asia and we would have the Western Hemisphere.

He's clearly talking about that with the Monroe document.

But I think the world is a globalized place.

And just because you're the big heavy in our region doesn't mean that things go right across the world.

Now, if terrorists are kicked out or drug networks are dismantled, that's good.

That's a great thing.

And we like that.

But I think this idea that we can just do what we want and do it for the oil, as he said over and over again, is not something that has a great shelf life when you think about other countries doing the same exact thing abroad.

GEOFF BENNETT: You have described the president's actions in Venezuela as a distraction from domestic priorities like health care, rising housing costs.

How should Democrats frame this moment in a way that breaks through and keeps the focus where voters are feeling it the most?

SEN.

ELISSA SLOTKIN: Well, I think what the president's doing -- I have said this before.

I have three brothers.

And I remember growing up.

They'd wave their hand over here, distract me, and then like gut-punch me.

I think that's what the president is doing with all these foreign entanglements, right?

He's gone after nine different regions of the world militarily, seven countries, two oceans.

That's the most any single president has done, for diversity of military operations in their first year, more strikes in his first year than in Joe Biden's four years.

So he's really a foreign policy president.

And I think he's doing that because he doesn't want to talk about domestic issues.

He doesn't have a plan for health care.

He certainly doesn't have a plan for housing.

I just put out something today, and we're all talking about Venezuela, including on this show.

And we're not talking about the things that actually capture Americans' interests, which is, can I buy a home?

Can I afford health insurance?

Can I afford childcare, et cetera, et cetera.

So he's doing the foreign thing to distract from him having no plan on the domestic side.

GEOFF BENNETT: And Democrats see an opening?

SEN.

ELISSA SLOTKIN: Well, it's not even just a Democratic thing.

It's like he's coming up on his one-year anniversary when he was sworn in as president, right?

He said on his first day he was going to do all these changes on inflation, all these changes on the price of just being a middle-class person in America.

Where are we one year out?

The guy has just not done any of it.

It's almost shocking, because he's a populist, right?

So it's not Democrats see an opening.

The American public is saying, like, why are we talking about Venezuela and Greenland and all these places when my health insurance just doubled, when I can't buy my first home until I'm 45 years old?

So it's not just a Democrat-Republican thing.

It's just an American thing.

And he ran on this very stuff in his campaign.

So he should get it.

GEOFF BENNETT: Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, thanks again for being with us.

SEN.

ELISSA SLOTKIN: You bet.

Thanks.