WASHINGTON, December 18. /TASS/. The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly defeated a resolution directing the president to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with or against Venezuela without congressional authorization.

The Republican-majority House voted 213 to 211 against this resolution.

The document was submitted as a so-called concurrent resolution. Such acts are adopted separately in each chamber of Congress, have no legal force, and are advisory in nature. This way, lawmakers express their position on a particular issue, and the executive branch has the right to ignore such documents.

The US Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to declare war. However, in recent decades, US administrations have interpreted very broadly the authorizations granted to them by lawmakers to use military force abroad, including to launch new and large-scale operations.