The Senate voted overwhelmingly Friday to override President Trump’s veto of the annual defense bill, the first override of a Trump veto in the waning days of his presidency.
The Senate vote was 81-13, far more than the two-thirds needed to override the veto of the $740 billion bill, which includes pay raises for soldiers and funding for modernization.
Trump had vetoed the measure because, nonsensically, the bill didn’t include a provision repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that provides a legal shield to tech companies like Twitter and Facebook, which has what, exactly, to do with the national defense; and then he didn’t like that the bill does require the military to rename bases named for Confederate military leaders.
The House had already voted 322-87 on Monday to override the Trump veto.
Both of Virginia’s Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, voted to override the president.
“This annual defense bill is critical to U.S. national security,” Warner said in a statement. “Failure to pass it would jeopardize our country’s military readiness and national defense, cybersecurity, the well-being of our U.S. service members and their families, and more. The stakes are just too high to risk further delay.”
“I’m glad my colleagues on both sides of the aisle stood by our servicemembers and rejected President Trump’s veto,” Kaine said in a statement. “For 60 years in a row, the NDAA has provided necessary support for our troops and national security. Today’s vote sent a clear message that Congress will not allow President Trump to stand in the way of that support, and I’m relieved the critical bipartisan priorities we fought for will become law.”
Story by Chris Graham
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