Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker on Thursday said there’s no evidence war crimes were committed when the U.S. military killed survivors of an initial attack on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September.

The Mississippi Republican — who issued his most detailed statement to date on the Trump administration’s military campaign against alleged drug gangs — said he is satisfied with the information his panel has received from the administration about the Sept. 2 episode and that the military strikes “were conducted based on sound legal advice.”

“I have seen no evidence of war crimes,” Wicker said. “It is in the best interest of our national security to support our men and women in uniform when they act based on advice from senior legal advisers.”

Probe doubts: Though Wicker on Thursday did not specifically address any other steps his panel might take, his statement signals the GOP-led panel doesn’t intend to further investigate the incident. Democrats, on the other hand, have been pushing for a full probe, even as administration officials say the strikes were lawful.

Wicker and top House Armed Services Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island vowed to conduct oversight following revelations of the “double tap” strike in a report by The Washington Post last month. On Thursday, Wicker touted the committee’s process of reviewing the events.

“When reports first surfaced about a secondary strike, my office immediately directed inquiries to the department to ascertain the veracity of these reports. I promised that SASC would take this matter seriously and conduct thorough oversight. We have done so,” Wicker said. “Both military and civilian Pentagon leaders have worked in good faith to provide answers to us without any delays.”

“Today, I am satisfied with all the information I have received on this matter,” he said.

What’s next: Democrats are unlikely to agree. Some have pushed for a full investigation, including public hearings with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and requests for Pentagon documents, as well as a public release of the full video of the strike. Hegseth has rebuffed calls to release the entire unedited video.

The statement from Wicker comes a day after rank-and-file members of the Senate and House Armed Services committees viewed the full unedited footage of the strike and were briefed by Adm. Frank Bradley, the commander who ordered the second strike.

Top lawmakers in both chambers, including Wicker and Reed, were shown the footage in a classified briefing with Bradley earlier this month.

But most members of Congress still haven’t seen the footage, and lawmakers in both parties contend everyone in the House and Senate should be allowed to view it.

House done: Wicker’s counterpart, House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), declared last week that he didn’t intend to pursue a further investigation after viewing the full footage and receiving a briefing from Bradley.

Annual defense policy legislation championed by Wicker also presses the issue on boat strike videos. The bill, which President Donald Trump is set to sign on Thursday, would withhold a quarter of Hegseth’s travel budget until full videos of the myriad strikes are turned over to Congress.

Senate leaders gave up on trying to pass a government funding package before adjourning for the holidays, punting the issue to the new year — when lawmakers will have just a few weeks left to avoid a partial shutdown on Jan. 30.

Senators huddled on the floor Thursday night as they made an eleventh-hour attempt to find a path forward on bringing up a bundle of five bills. But Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper of Colorado announced they would hold up the package after White House budget director Russ Vought’s decision to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

One Democratic senator, granted anonymity to disclose private discussions, said the Democratic pair was not the only hurdle on their side of the aisle to finishing the legislation. But they made things more difficult for Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

“I’m disappointed that we will not be moving to our second package of appropriations bills tonight. Republicans were ready to go,” Thune said before the Senate left town. “I want this body to know that I remain as committed as ever to funding the government through the regular order process.”

Leaving the Capitol late Thursday evening, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and Thune are in agreement on advancing funding bills next month.

“We want to get through the process and get the appropriations bills done,” Schumer told reporters. “Our goal is to have full appropriations for the rest of the fiscal 2026 year … by Jan. 30.”

At the same time, Senate passage of this funding package won’t stave off another lapse all on its own. That’s because the legislation is only the product of negotiations in the Senate, and bipartisan deal-trading with House lawmakers won’t start until top Republican appropriators reach a separate agreement on overall bill totals.

Besides cash for the Pentagon, the package under consideration in the Senate would fund the departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Labor and Interior, along with the EPA.

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