Venezuela calls to divide Congress as lawmakers keep eye oil, oversight

Lawmakers are well aware of the cost of running the country due to the rising national debt, but now another cost may be added to the tab of Congress – Venezuela.

President Donald Trump has not backed down from his position that the US will manage Venezuela after the surprise strikes and the kidnapping of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. That left some on Capitol Hill wondering what the tag would be, given Venezuela’s dire economic situation.

As with most issues in Washington, DC, there is a strong partisan divide over how lawmakers expect Venezuela to move. Senate Republicans believe that large reserves of gasoline, natural gas and minerals will be enough to foot the bill and prompt oil companies to rush to dump money in the region.

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And the fiscal hawks in the Senate, who are always complaining about government spending, believe that running the country will be a financial boon for the US.

“I would imagine that there is so much money to be made that the oil companies will show up, and they will pay for everything,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital.

That calculation is shared among several other Republicans, who argue that any costs incurred in running the country during the transition period will be compounded by the large amount of crude oil creeping underground.

“That’s the whole point,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital.

There may be a wrench in that plan following a meeting between Trump and several top oil officials at the White House last week. The list of companies that were present on Friday touched on almost all areas affected by Venezuela’s oil sector, including production, services, trading and refining. The weight of that list underscored what is at stake in global energy policy, with the United States at the center.

And ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods told executives that Venezuela is “uninvestable,” prompting Trump to suggest he would “lean toward blocking Exxon.”

And despite the optimistic outlook of lawmakers, the economic reality in Venezuela is clear.

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Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., believes, like many other Senate Republicans, that Venezuela’s vast oil reserves will foot the bill for America’s control of the country. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Venezuela once had a strong economic structure, but years of mismanagement and international sanctions have crippled the economy, leaving a very small, indebted country.

Accurate figures are difficult to verify because Venezuela has not published complete financial data in recent years. However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the economy will reach 82.8 billion dollars by 2025, which is estimated to be Maine’s economic results.

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Senate Republicans believe that big oil, natural gas and minerals will be enough to pay the bill. (Gaby Oraa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In addition, Venezuela’s debt is estimated at 200% of its economy. Simply put, the country owes about two dollars for every dollar it produces.

Those pressures are compounded by runaway inflation. The IMF is predicting eye-watering inflation, with consumer prices expected to increase by more than 680% by 2026, underscoring the continued difficulties in Venezuela’s economy and households.

That collapse is inseparable from Venezuela’s oil industry, once the backbone of the country’s wealth. Oil revenues have long underwritten government spending and telecommunications, leaving the economy vulnerable as production declines, infrastructure decays and sanctions tighten.

Even in a depleted state, oil remains Venezuela’s most important asset. The country holds more than 300 billion barrels of proven crude – the largest in the world, surpassing established energy titans such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait – underscoring its potential if production and investment return.

The potential costs of revitalizing Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, combined with previous military operations and any other costs accrued by running the country, are a sign of the growing gap between the Hill and the White House, where Trump has often courted lawmakers in decision-making.

Senate Democrats want to roll back some of that authority through the appropriations process, where they would try to limit the flow of taxpayer dollars toward Venezuela.

“Congress must be involved,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “And we have to be involved because we have the power of the fund, we have the authority to allocate funds, and we need better and more information to make these decisions about how taxpayers’ money is being used to support these military or intelligence operations.”

Some of that action is already happening.

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Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., whose war-power decision to limit future military use in Venezuela without congressional approval survived his first procedural test Thursday, said lawmakers were discussing amending the defense spending bill to “prevent appropriated defense funds from being spent on certain actions not authorized by Congress.”

Senate Republicans, despite cries from one side of the aisle to revisit the situation in Venezuela, are steadfast in their belief that Venezuelan oil, not American taxpayers’ money, will foot the bill.

“We will use Venezuelan resources to repay the US Treasury for what we have already spent there, and we will use Venezuelan resources to help rebuild their country,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. “The taxpayer is not going to contribute a cent of this.”