President Donald Trump Vetoes National Defense Authorization Act, Setting up Potential Override by Congress

Donald Trump has vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act Wednesday, after making threats to do just that, CBS News reports. Wednesday was the deadline to veto the spending bill before it became law. The move will likely set up an override by Congress – the first of Trump’s presidency.

“No one has worked harder, or approved more money for the military, than I have — over $2 trillion,” Mr. Trump said while explaining his veto to Congress. “During my four years, with the support of many others, we have almost entirely rebuilt the United States military, which was totally depleted when I took office. Your failure to terminate the very dangerous national security risk of Section 230 will make our intelligence virtually impossible to conduct without everyone knowing what we are doing at every step.”

Trump threatened several times on Twitter to veto the act. One reason he decided to veto the act is it didn’t include the nixing of Section 230, which is “a provision protecting internet companies from being liable for what third parties post on their platforms.” In order for Congress to override the veto, both the House and Senate need to re-approve the legislation with two-thirds of the majority. Congress will likely vote on this after Christmas.

This is not the only legislation Trump is dealing with. The president has threatened to refuse to sign the COVID-19 relief package that is expected at his desk soon. He said it needs to include $2,000 stimulus checks as well as other provisions. It has led to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi writing a letter to Democratic and Republican colleagues for help.

“Just when you think you have seen it all, last night, the President said that he would possibly veto the bicameral agreement negotiated between Republicans and Democrats,” Pelosi wrote in the letter. “He said he would do so, unless the economic impact payments were increased to $2,000. In the bipartisan negotiations, Leader Schumer and I repeatedly asked Republicans what would be the highest number the President would accept for direct payments, and they responded with Sphinx-like silence. In negotiations, they would never go above $600 and in some cases, proposed $500.” NBC News reported that Democrats would seek to pass a measure for $2,000 payments on Thursday, Christmas Eve.