Congress Overrides Donald Trump's Defense Bill Veto

Congress officially voted to override President Donald Trump's veto of a defense policy bill on Friday. This move marked the first time in his nearly four years in office that lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Senate have voted to override a veto from Trump, per the Associated Press. The $740 billion defense policy bill affirms a 3% pay raise for United States troops, guides defense policy, and cemented discussions on troop levels, new weapons systems and military readiness, personnel policy, and other goals that the military has.

The Senate voted 81-13 to override Trump's veto of the bill. That vote followed an earlier 322-87 vote to override his veto in the House. Following this news, Trump took to Twitter to criticize lawmakers for overriding his veto of the defense policy bill. The president specifically wrote that the Senate missed an opportunity to eliminate protections for social media companies that he said give "unlimited power to Big Tech companies. Pathetic!!!" He also took time to criticize lawmakers for not following his demands for increased stimulus payments (instead of the $600 that the recent COVID-19 relief bill allotted for, Trump believed that those one-time stimulus checks should have been worth $2,000). He said that their decision not to vote to increase those payments was "Not fair, or smart!"

In response to the news about the House and the Senate's override votes, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that the "sweeping and overwhelmingly bipartisan votes" in Congress "delivered a resounding rebuke to President Trump's reckless assault on America's military and national security.″ Pelosi went on to say that Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, "would have hurt the health, financial security and safety of our servicemembers, their families, our veterans and our allies and partners worldwide. Instead of keeping Americans safe, the president continues to use his final moments in office to sow chaos and undermine our security.″

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also spoke out amidst the news that both the Senate and the House voted to override Trump's veto of this defense policy bill. McConnell said that the bill, which now has the force of law, "looks after our brave men and women who volunteer to wear the uniform." He added, "But it's also a tremendous opportunity: to direct our national security priorities to reflect the resolve of the American people and the evolving threats to their safety, at home and abroad. It's our chance to ensure we keep pace with competitors like Russia and China.″