Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the U.S. ouster of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and detailed the White House strategy moving forward in testimony on Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Rubio’s long-awaited testimony came almost four weeks after the U.S. military carried out large-scale strikes in Caracas and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Jan. 3. Maduro and Flores are being held in New York, where they await trial for federal drug trafficking charges.

“This thing still is in its infancy, but I certainly think a lot of progress has been made in that regard,” Rubio said of restoring diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Venezuela.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have raised questions about Washington’s long-term strategy in Venezuela and expressed concern that the operation violated Congress’ constitutionally mandated war powers.

In his opening remarks, Rubio disputed claims that Venezuela is under U.S. military occupation. “There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country,” he said. “There are no U.S. troops on the ground.”

But Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., later pressed Rubio on the legal basis of the military operation. “So I would ask you if a foreign country bombed our air defense missiles, captured and removed our president and blockaded our country, would that be considered an act of war?” Paul asked.

War power resolutions designed to block President Donald Trump from putting U.S. boots on the ground in Venezuela have narrowly failed to pass both the House and the Senate in recent weeks.

Referring to Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the top Democrat on the committee, said, “Our president continues to threaten Delcy Rodríguez and the remnant of the Maduro regime with military force if they don’t comply. We should know what are the policies, what is the path, what is the plan forward?”