The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. December 18, 2025 House Rejects Resolutions Seeking Congressional Approval for Boat Strikes or Attack on Venezuela ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Pentagon said Wednesday it had blown up another boat suspected of carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific. U.S. Southern Command released video showing a speedboat erupting in flames, saying the attack killed "four male narco-terrorists." If the Pentagon's numbers are accurate, it would be the 26th such strike, bringing the death toll to 99 people. It came as House Republicans on Wednesday rejected a pair of war powers resolutions introduced by Democrats that would have forced the White House to seek congressional approval for the boat strikes - and for any attack against Venezuela. The resolution was co-sponsored by Massachusetts Congressmember Jim Mc Govern. Rep. Jim Mc Govern: "When we go to war, our troops have no choice but to follow the orders that are given to them, right? But the bottom line is, we have a responsibility to make sure they don't get sent into a mess, that we know what the hell we're doing, that there's a clearly defined mission, that this is the right thing to do. And it is the wrong thing to do, in my opinion. You know, we have homeless veterans. We can't provide people in this country healthcare. People don't have adequate housing. People are hungry, you know? And you want to spend billions and trillions of dollars on another war. Well, I don't want any part of it." .