•HRES 987 IH 
Whereas the House of Representatives supports the Nation’s 
intrepid intelligence community, law enforcement, and 
military in their successful operation to bring to justice 
a tyrant whose cartel trafficking has led to the death of 
untold scores of Americans and similar destruction of 
other nations’ citizenry; 
Whereas the House of Representatives wholeheartedly en-
dorses a president of the United States finally taking ac-
tion to bring to an auspicious end this period of terrible 
Venezuelan history that for years has been met with inac-
tion by prior administrations; 
Whereas the proud Venezuelan people are on the precipice of 
experiencing long-denied freedom and are grateful to the 
brave men and women who meticulously prepared and ex-
ecuted a mission that finally removed a cancer on the 
world; 
Whereas President Trump has now condemned Maduro’s So-
cialist advances, which always and without fail, cul-
minated in violence and terror, to the dustbin of history; 
Whereas sadly, in the aftermath of Nicola´s Maduro’s arrest, 
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, ‘‘[t]his wasn’t a 
law enforcement action . . . [t]hey’re lying to the Amer-
ican people when they say that’’; Representative Delia 
Ramirez posted on X, ‘‘[u]nder the guise of liberty, an 
administration of warmongers has lied to justify an inva-
sion and is dragging us into an illegal, endless war’’; 
Representative Dan Goldman stated ‘‘[t]his violation of 
the United States Constitution is an impeachable of-
fense’’; Representative John Garamendi stated ‘‘in direct 
violation of the United States Constitution, President 
Trump illegally attacked Venezuela’s capital and seized 
Nicola´s Maduro’’; and Representative Eric Swallwell said 
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•HRES 987 IH 
‘‘[w]hat this president has done, in the shortcuts that he 
has taken, is he’s going to, one shortcut at a time, put 
us in a fascist cul-de-sac’’; thereby opposing and de-
nouncing the courageous actions of the Administration in 
arresting a drug trafficker and human rights abuser; 
Whereas these statements, and those similar to them, were 
understandably disconcerting to Americans who believed 
that Democrats and Republicans alike would be joyous 
and thankful for this Administration’s decisive and defin-
itive intervention to remove Maduro’s homicidal clutch on 
power; 
Whereas myriad pieces of legislation, in merely this Congress 
and the last alone, have been introduced by Democrats 
highlighting Maduro’s antidemocratic efforts at quelling 
debate or political dissention through threats and endless 
oppressive violence; 
Whereas the former head of the House Democrats’ election 
apparatus, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, 
proposed legislation in this Congress, H.R. 328, cospon-
sored by her colleague, Representative Thomas Suozzi, 
restricting American energy investment in Venezuela 
until legitimate results of Venezuela’s last election are re-
spected, included the following powerful assertions, such 
as— 
(1) ‘‘[Venezuelan] opposition candidate Edmundo 
Gonzalez received more than two-thirds of the votes 
against the regime of Nicola´s Maduro’’ and that ‘‘[t]he 
Maduro regime has refused to respect the overwhelming 
choice of the people of Venezuela and subsequently ar-
rested and abused thousands of innocent citizens of Ven-
ezuela, including children, for peaceful political participa-
tion’’; and 
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•HRES 987 IH 
(2) an assessment of the impact of waiving any en-
ergy investment prohibitions on ‘‘the ability of the regime 
of Nicola´s Maduro or any nondemocratic successor gov-
ernment in Venezuela to violate human rights, engage in 
repression, or threaten the interests of the United 
States’’; 
Whereas Representative Haley Stevens introduced legislation 
in the 118th Congress, H.R. 10255, with a companion 
bill introduced by Democratic Senator Christopher Coons, 
S. 5340, requiring the Secretary of State to brief Con-
gress on whether ‘‘Venezuela under the regime of Nicola´s 
Maduro’’ ‘‘should be designated as a State Sponsor of 
Unlawful or Wrongful Detention’’; 
Whereas Representative Joaquin Castro, joined by his Demo-
cratic colleagues, Representatives Adriano Espaillat, Dina 
Titus, Norma Torres, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Sheila 
Cherfilus-McCormick, and Delia Ramirez, introduced leg-
islation in the 118th Congress, H. Res. 1471, with a 
companion Senate resolution, S. Res. 833, introduced by 
Democratic Senator Ben Ray Luja´n, joined by Demo-
cratic Senators Benjamin Cardin, Tim Kaine, Michael 
Bennet, Mark Kelly, Mark Warner, Christopher Murphy, 
John Hickenlooper, and Alex Padilla, to counter 
disinformation, propaganda, and misinformation in Latin 
America and the Caribbean, specifically highlighting 
‘‘Venezuela, where actors linked to the regime of Nicola´s 
Maduro have engaged in a sustained and synchronized 
campaign of disinformation to undermine the country’s 
2023–2024 electoral process, invalidate the results of 
such elections, and attack Maria Corina Machado and 
other opposition leaders, according to multiple sources, 
including the Digital Forensic Research Lab’’; 
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•HRES 987 IH 
Whereas again, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, 
introduced legislation in the 118th Congress, H. Res. 
1409, with her Democratic colleagues, Representative 
Frederica Wilson, (Senator) Ruben Gallego, Bradley 
Schneider, Vicente Gonzalez, Gerald Connolly (deceased), 
(Senator) Andy Kim, Juan Vargas, Sylvia Garcia, Norma 
Torres, Kathy Manning, Greg Stanton, Brendan Boyle, 
(Senator) Adam Schiff, Mike Levin, and Ted Lieu, stat-
ing— 
(1) that the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election 
‘‘was preceded by over a decade of violent repression and 
persecution of political opponents, elimination of checks 
and balances, capture of state institutions, extrajudicial 
murder, arbitrary detention and torture, curtailed free-
dom of expression and the press, and systematic abuse of 
power by Nicola´s Maduro and his regime’’; 
(2) that ‘‘the Maduro regime barred several groups 
of independent electoral observers from entering the 
country to monitor the election’’; 
(3) that the ‘‘regime has arbitrarily detained, force-
fully disappeared, or forced into exile thousands of oppo-
sition political organizers, activists, human rights defend-
ers, and others perceived to be critical of Maduro’s illegit-
imate rule in Venezuela’’; 
(4) that ‘‘the Maduro regime currently holds more 
than 270 political prisoners and has conducted over 
15,000 politically motivated arbitrary arrests over the 
last decade in Venezuela’’; 
(5) that ‘‘Nicola´s Maduro stated prior to the election 
that he had no intention of accepting defeat or providing 
for a peaceful transition of power’’; 
(6) that ‘‘the United States determined that these 
arbitrary and unconstitutional actions by the Maduro re-
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•HRES 987 IH 
gime violated the terms of the Barbados Agreement, 
which provided for certain electoral conditions to be met 
and was signed by the regime and the opposition demo-
cratic Unitary Platform’’; 
(7) that ‘‘hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who 
gathered to peacefully protest the Maduro regime’s at-
tempt to steal the election were met with arbitrary force 
and violent repression that has left hundreds arrested, at 
least 16 dead, and hundreds injured’’; 
(8) that ‘‘the Maduro regime has issued arrest war-
rants for Marı´a Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonza´lez 
on false criminal charges’’; 
(9) that it condemns ‘‘the Maduro regime’s cowardly 
and destructive attempt to steal the election and under-
mine the will of the Venezuelan people’’; 
(10) that it ‘‘denounces the Maduro regime’s violent 
repression of Venezuelans peacefully demonstrating in 
support of democracy’’; and 
(11) that ‘‘calls for the imposition of new sanctions 
on the Maduro regime as well as sanctions targeting indi-
viduals and entities involved in subverting democracy and 
repressing the opposition, including foreign governments 
and non-state entities assisting the regime’s election sub-
version and repression’’; 
Whereas then-Representative (Senator) Elissa Slotkin intro-
duced legislation in the 118th Congress, H.R. 8741, that 
defined ‘‘Venezuelan politician Nicola´s Maduro’’ as a per-
son of concern who has engaged in a ‘‘long-term pattern 
or serious instances of activity adverse to the national se-
curity of the United States, the security of critical infra-
structure of the United States, or the safety and security 
of United States persons’’; 
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•HRES 987 IH 
Whereas again, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz 
introduced legislation in the 118th Congress, H.R. 5670, 
known as the ‘‘Venezuelans Overcoming Interference and 
Corruption in Elections Act’’, joined by her Democratic 
colleagues, Representatives Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, 
Ted Lieu, Kathy Castor, Darren Soto, Jared Moskowitz, 
and Frederica Wilson, that included— 
(1) a sense of Congress asserting, ‘‘the arbitrary and 
unconstitutional actions of the Maduro regime to under-
mine Venezuelan democracy, including attempts to dis-
qualify opposition candidates from participating in the 
2024 presidential election, demonstrate flagrant dis-
regard for the basic political rights of Venezuelans and 
merit condemnation in the strongest terms from the 
United States and other Western Hemisphere democ-
racies’’; 
(2) assertions that ‘‘[t]he disqualification of political 
opponents illustrates the Maduro regime’s intent to con-
tinue to remove checks and balances on the executive, po-
liticize the judiciary, undermine the independence of the 
legislature through use of executive decree powers, per-
secute and prosecute its political opponents, curtail free-
dom of the press, and limit the free expression of its citi-
zens’’; 
(3) condemnation of the Maduro regime that has 
‘‘committed crimes against humanity as evidenced by the 
Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the 
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela established by the 
United Nations Human Rights Council, in the report of 
such mission published in October 2022’’; and 
(4) calling for ‘‘an end to the usurpation of presi-
dential authorities by Nicola´s Maduro’’; 
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•HRES 987 IH 
Whereas again, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz 
introduced legislation in the 118th Congress, H.R. 4086, 
joined by her Democratic colleagues in the House, Rep-
resentatives 
Joaquin 
Castro, 
Darren 
Soto, 
Jared 
Moskowitz, Kathy Castor, Nannette Diaz Barragan, Lois 
Frankel, Ted Lieu, Brad Sherman, and Maxwell Frost, 
with companion Senate legislation, S. 1931, sponsored by 
Senators Tim Kaine, Benjamin Cardin, and Richard 
Durbin, urged once again, through a resolution, ‘‘ending 
Nicola´s Maduro’s usurpation of presidential authorities’’, 
also finding ‘‘Marta Valinas, Chair of the Fact-Finding 
Mission, stated in January 2023 that the Maduro re-
gime’s proposed law restricting the activities of non-
governmental organizations [‘]could represent a point of 
no return in the closure of the civic and democratic 
space[’] and noted that organizations working in the 
areas of human rights in Venezuela are facing increased 
legal and operational hurdles, including surveillance by 
Venezuelan intelligence services and diminished access to 
funding’’; and 
Whereas Representative Rosa DeLauro introduced legislation 
in the 118th Congress, H.R. 3136, joined by her Demo-
cratic colleagues, former Representatives Bill Pascrell 
and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, Representatives Andre´ 
Carson, Jill Tokuda, and Brad Sherman, defining ‘‘the 
regime of Nicola`s Maduro in Venezuela’’ as a ‘‘country 
of concern’’ that is ‘‘engaged in a long-term pattern or 
serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the 
national security of the United States or the security and 
safety of United States persons’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That— 
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•HRES 987 IH 
(1) a broad coalition of the House of Represent-
atives has long held that Nicola´s Maduro is a threat 
to the national security of the United States and the 
well-being of the people of Venezuela; 
(2) the House of Representatives applauds the 
United States actions to arrest him pursuant to a 
grand jury indictment; and 
(3) the House of Representatives recognizes 
President 
Trump’s 
leadership 
in 
expediting 
Maduro’s demise. 
Æ 
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