BREAKING
Senate Overrides Trump’s Veto of Defense Bill,
Dealing a Legislative Blow
Republicans joined Democrats to deliver President
Trump the first veto override of his presidency in the last days of his term in
an overwhelming, bipartisan vote.
The last time Congress overrode a presidential veto
was in 2016, the final year of Barack Obama’s presidency.
Catie
Edmondson
By Catie
Edmondson
Jan. 1,
2021, 2:35 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON
— The Senate on Friday voted overwhelmingly to override President Trump’s veto
of the annual military policy bill, mustering bipartisan support to enact the
legislation over the president’s objections and delivering him the first such
legislative rebuke of his presidency.
The
81-to-13 vote, the last vote expected in this Congress, is the first time
lawmakers have overridden one of Mr. Trump’s vetoes. It reflected the sweeping
popularity of a measure that authorizes a pay raise for the nation’s military
and amounted to an extraordinary reprimand delivered to Mr. Trump in the final
weeks of his presidency.
The margin
surpassed the two-thirds majority needed to force enactment of the bill over
Mr. Trump’s objections. The House passed the legislation on Monday, also
mustering the two-thirds majority required.
Mr. Trump,
making good on a monthslong series of threats, vetoed the bipartisan
legislation last week, citing a shifting list of reasons including his
objection to a provision directing the military to strip the names of
Confederate leaders from bases. He also demanded that the bill include the
repeal of a legal shield for social media companies that he has tangled with, a
significant legislative change that Republicans and Democrats alike have said
is irrelevant to legislation that dictates military policy.
Those
objections infuriated lawmakers, who had labored for months to put together a
bipartisan bill. They had prided themselves on passing the military bill each
year for 60 years, and lawmakers in Mr. Trump’s own party ultimately moved to
mow over his concerns and advance the legislation.
The last
time Congress overrode a presidential veto was in 2016, the final year of
Barack Obama’s presidency, after he vetoed legislation allowing families of the
victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to sue the government of Saudi Arabia.
Catie
Edmondson is a reporter in the Washington bureau, covering Congress. @CatieEdmondson
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