McConnell Says Senate Will Return December 29 to Respond to Trump's Potential Veto of Defense Bill

The United States Senate may have to return for a rare last-minute session next week to override President Donald Trump's veto of this year's military spending bill. On Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on the Senate floor that he and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had agreed to call the legislature back on Dec. 29 if necessary. If Trump goes through with the veto, the House of Representatives will have to vote to override it first.

The U.S. Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act on Monday, and Trump is not pleased with the massive bill. He has frequently complained that the bill orders military bases named after Confederate leaders to be renamed, and that it does not repeal a liability shield for the tech industry, according to a report by The Hill. Trump has also made more vague complaints that the bill is soft on China, and has tweeted that his veto of the bill "will make China very unhappy." However, his veto would be a symbolic inconvenience that Congress is well within its rights to override.

The House voted on the NDAA bill first, so it would need to vote to override Trump's veto first as well. Trump has indicated that he may issue the veto on Wednesday, and the House reportedly plans to reconvene on Monday, Dec. 28 to officially override that veto. The Senate would do the same the next day, as McConnell revealed on Tuesday.

"My intention was and is to ensure the Senate continues fulfilling our obligation to the men and women of our armed forces. I hope the president will not veto this bill," McConnell said. "In the event that President Trump does elect to veto this bipartisan bill, it appears the House may choose to return after the holidays to set up a vote to consider the veto... In the event that the president has vetoed the bill, and the House has voted to override the veto, the Senate would have the opportunity to process a veto override at that time."

The Senate could wait until as late as Sunday, Jan. 3 to override the president's hypothetical veto, but that would leave little time to overcome any procedural hurdles that crop up. There are reportedly some lawmakers who are not in favor of overriding a veto from Trump, and Republican Sen. John Thune explained that it was not worth taking that risk.

"It will take more than one day if we have objections and I think we probably will. So the question is, if the House, if they override it, then... we'll have to set it up, and it may take a few days to do that," Thune said.

Trump has issued eight vetos during his presidency, and none have been overridden by Congress before. If he chooses to veto this military spending bill in spite of McConnell's promise to override it, he is expected to do so on Wednesday.