War in Venezuela? Not on my watch:

Donald Trump keeps threatening to order a military intervention in Venezuela. Once more, our men and women in uniform could be unnecessarily put in harm's way.

Sound familiar? It should.

This week marks the 16th anniversary of our country's invasion of Iraq, when George W. Bush's administration misled the American people to make a case for war. It was a gross abuse of trust.

Some of our brave heroes came back with terrible physical and mental scars. And many made the ultimate sacrifice.

We can't afford to replay that story in Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro is a brutal dictator and incompetent leader. But that doesn't call for another unconstitutional, unauthorized war.

That's why I've introduced a resolution in the Senate that would prevent Trump from ordering military intervention in Venezuela without the approval of Congress.

Let's use our diplomatic tools instead, let's send in humanitarian aid and apply targeted economic pressure to hasten the day Maduro leaves power.

But we absolutely should not send our troops to Venezuela – especially without explicit Congressional authorization and a public debate.

16 years after our invasion of Iraq, the region is still destabilized.

Let's not make the same mistakes and push hastily into Venezuela.

Jeff