The Senate voted Friday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a $740 billion defense authorization bill, completing the first congressional override of his presidency just weeks before he leaves office. The Senate action followed the House’s vote on Monday to override the President’s veto, now making the measure law.
The Senate approved overriding Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act by an 81-13 margin.
The Senate votes 81-13 to override President Trump's veto of a major defense policy bill. It is the first veto override of his term.
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) January 1, 2021
The President could have quietly signed this bipartisan bill 3 weeks ago. Instead, his veto earned him a clear Congressional rebuke. pic.twitter.com/AKJokC0JO0
On Monday, the House rebuked Trump by a 322-87 margin, a number that included 109 Republicans.
Trump had vetoed eight bills previously, but those were sustained because supporters did not gain the two-thirds vote needed in each chamber of Congress for the bill to become law without the President’s signature.
Congress has successfully passed the defense spending legislation for 60 consecutive years, according to The New York Times. This year’s measure originally passed the House and the Senate by large margins.
>> House overrides Trump veto on $740B defense spending bill
Trump said last week that the National Defense Authorization Act “(failed) to include critical national security measures, includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by my administration to put America first in our national security and foreign policy actions.”
The bill affirmed 3% pay raises for U.S. troops and authorized more than $740 billion in military programs and construction.
Trump, in a series of tweets posted earlier this month, threatened to veto the NDAA because it failed to address liability protection for social media companies known as Section 230. Trump has taken special aim at Section 230 as part of his battle against Facebook, Google and Twitter for what he alleges is anti-conservative bias, The Washington Post reported.
>>Trump vetoes $740B national defense bill
Trump also objected to the bill’s restriction of his ability to pull U.S. troops out of Germany, South Korea and Afghanistan, according to the newspaper.
The president has also called for stripping language from the bill, which allows for the renaming of military bases that honored Confederate leaders.
Cox Media Group
