The vote, which requires further consideration in the Senate before even being discussed by the House, comes as more centrist Republicans express their reservations regarding Trump’s desire to purchase Greenland.

“This is a topic that should be dropped,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) told reporters this week.

“This nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing, and the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) added during a speech on the Senate floor. 

Even before Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) underscored Republican divisions regarding Trump’s Venezuela war powers with his resolution, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) had previewed his plan to introduce a similar measure related to Greenland.

“We must stop him before he invades another country on a whim,” Gallego wrote on social media. “No more forever wars.”

The Trump administration has sent mixed messages regarding its overarching strategy related to Greenland, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeating to senators and reporters this week during separate briefings that the president hopes to purchase the autonomous territory from Denmark.

Simultaneously, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has been careful not to rule out a military response from Trump against the NATO ally.

“The president has been very open and clear with all of you and with the world that he views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region, and so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters. “All options are always on the table for President Trump as he examines what’s in the best interest of the United States, but I will just say that the president’s first option always has been diplomacy.”

Trump on Friday alluded to acquiring Greenland the “easy” or “hard way,” adding, “When we own it, we defend it. We’ll have to defend Greenland. NATO has got to understand that.”

“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland — and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor,” the president told reporters. “I would like to make a deal the easy way.”

Regardless, lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) have downplayed the prospect of the “hard way,” telling reporters this week he does not “see military action being an option” regarding Greenland.

“That, to me, is not something that anybody is contemplating seriously,” he said.

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, a White House official dismissed Republican criticism, saying the senators were “speaking to a hypothetical situation” regarding Greenland.

“We’ve heard a lot of voices” regarding Trump’s foreign policy, the official said, but “the president has shown time and time again” the strength of his decisions.

To that end, the official cited Trump’s assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020 during his first term and Operation Midnight Hammer last June in which the U.S. struck three of Iran’s uranium enrichment nuclear facilities.

There is confusion regarding Trump’s Greenland strategy as Rubio prepares to meet next week with Danish and Greenlandic diplomats, the first Trump administration sit-down related to a possible purchase. However, there is no confusion with respect to how the president will respond to another war powers resolution.

Trump had a sharp reaction to Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rand Paul (R-KY), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Todd Young (R-IN) supporting the Democratic-led Venezuela resolution, imploring the public to “never” elect them to office again, going on to say they should be “ashamed” of themselves. 

“This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,” he wrote on Truth Social. “In any event, and despite their ‘stupidity,’ the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me.”

The same White House official told the Washington Examiner the administration is confident it can counter Republican scrutiny, pointing to three bipartisan briefings already provided to Congress, describing the Venezuela war powers resolution vote as “not the result we wanted” before reiterating there were more votes on it to come. 

The official predicted a “steady tempo” of similar briefings to “sketch out” the administration’s plans regarding what Trump wants to “achieve with his foreign policy,” including related to Venezuela, in the weeks and months ahead.

“The vast, vast majority of Republicans support the president’s positions,” the source said. “Stay tuned for additional engagements with the Hill, so everyone understands where we’re going from here.” 

After the Republican senators’ dissent on Thursday, 17 House Republicans similarly defied House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in voting with Democrats to extend Obamacare health insurance premium subsidies for three years.

The Affordable Care Act proposal – which only received a vote because of a discharge petition, a parliamentary procedure that typically helps minority parties push legislation onto the floor – is unlikely to pass the Senate but could be the pretext for a compromise between the two chambers of Congress. 

Disagreements, nevertheless, remain among Republicans regarding provisions related to abortion, with senators, including Sen.Bernie Moreno (R-OH), pitching a two-year extension with income caps and a reopened enrollment period.

Trump told House Republicans earlier this week they needed to be more “flexible” regarding the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funding from being used to terminate pregnancies in most cases.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed in November, also because of a discharge petition, another demonstration of Republican dissent after Trump tried to stop the legislation from coming to the floor, in part, by holding a briefing with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in the White House Situation Room.

DEFENSE HAWKS GET UPPER HAND IN TUG-OF-WAR OVER TRUMP FOREIGN POLICY

At the same time, the earlier White House official emphasized to the Washington Examiner that the House did not override Trump’s vetoes of two pieces of legislation, including one regarding a Colorado water project in Boebert’s home state. However, 35 Republicans voted with Democrats to override the veto.

“We had some success in Congress… on the veto override votes,” the official said, continuing on to call this week “a mixed bag for the president.”