WASHINGTON (TIP): The Senate on Friday, January 1, joined the House to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a sweeping military policy bill, delivering the first such blow to Trump just weeks before he leaves office.
The Senate voted 81 to 13 to approve the $741 billion National Defense Authorization Act, achieving the two-thirds majority required to defeat the veto. The House overrode the veto on Monday by a vote of 322-87. As a result, the legislation will become law. Trump vetoed the measure on Dec. 23 after lawmakers refused to include his request to add a provision repealing an internet liability law known as Section 230 that protects social media companies. The previous eight vetoes issued by Trump had been allowed to stand. Among the lawmakers who voted against the override were Republicans Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Josh Hawley of Missouri and Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was a no vote as well. Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect and Democratic senator from California, voted in favor of the override.
The NDAA is typically a bipartisan exercise that passes Congress with little drama. This year was different due to Trump’s demand, which leaders of his party dismissed as irrelevant to a bill that structures the Pentagon. Both chambers originally passed the legislation with sweeping bipartisan support.
The military legislation affirms a 3 percent pay raise for American troops and includes a provision led by Warren to rename U.S. military bases and property honoring Confederate soldiers within three years. The last president to never have a veto overridden by Congress was Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s, according to Senate archives.