House votes to override president’s veto
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives cast a two-thirds majority vote Monday to override President Donald Trump’s veto and approve a $740 billion defense spending bill, a sound rebuke of the president’s objections to the bill that funds the military, veterans affairs and national defense programs.
The final vote was 322-87. The veto override, in which 109 Republicans joined all but 20 Democrats in voting to approve, was a defeat for Mr. Trump in his final weeks in office. Another 66 Republicans voted with the president and against the defense bill.
Mr. Trump had warned lawmakers he would veto the bill — which passed both chambers of Congress earlier this month with veto-proof majorities — because of a provision to remove the names of Confederate generals from U.S. military bases.
Mr. Trump also demanded that the bill include a repeal of Section 230 liability protection for social media companies, an issue he has pressed since Twitter in May began labeling his tweets as an incitement of violence.
As the vote showed, the majority of the Republican caucus believed the bill was necessary at a moment of rising foreign threats and amid the COVID-19 crisis. The top GOP member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas, cited the far-reaching cyberattack from Russia as a reason he continued to support the bill in a House floor speech shortly before the vote.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R- Butler, voted to override the president’s veto. “While I support the president’s goal of amending or abolishing Section 230, that debate must not delay military planning for 2021,” Mr. Kelly said in a
statement.
Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Centre, also voted to override the veto. He did not release a statement or respond to a request for comment.
But two other Western Pennsylvania Republicans — Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, of Peters, and Rep.
John Joyce, of Altoona — voted against overriding Mr. Trump’s veto.
Mr. Joyce said in a statement that although he voted for the defense bill three weeks ago, “I
respect our commander in chief’s calls to make the legislation even stronger for our brave men and women in uniform.”
Mr. Reschenthaler also had initially voted for the defense bill; he did not respond to a request for comment Monday night about changing his mind.
The defense bill now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, which originally passed the bill by a 8413 margin.
The defense bill was not the only measure that Mr. Trump spurred the House to bring up for a vote in the unusual end-of-the-year session.
The House also approved a bill to increase direct payments to most Americans to $2,000 from $600, an action Mr. Trump demanded last week as he held up a $ 908 billion COVID-19 relief bill before eventually signing it into law Sunday night.
The majority of House Republicans — including every Western Pennsylvania Republican — broke with the president in voting to reject the bigger payments. Another 44 Republicans voted for $ 2,000 checks. It was unclear Monday night whether the Republican- controlled Senate would take up the issue next.
Mr. Kelly voted against the bigger payments, saying the “stimulus check expansion misses the mark because it is not targeted to people who need it most and ignores President Trump’s call to reduce wasteful government spending” — even though Mr. Trump demanded the bigger checks.
Mr. Trump had roundly
criticized lawmakers in a video posted to Twitter last week, a day after both the House and Senate overwhelmingly voted to approve the COVID-19 relief bill, which was tied to a spending measure that funds government agencies through Sept. 30.
In addition to the $600 checks, the relief bill includes $300 weekly supplemental unemployment benefits, another round of small business loans, renter assistance and funding for hospitals and vaccine distribution. Leaders from both parties negotiated for some six months to reach a bipartisan compromise in the final days of the year.
Mr. Trump’s demand for bigger checks put him in agreement with many Democrats, who have generally favored a much larger COVID- 19 relief package, and in an awkward spot with Republicans, who generally supported more targeted aid. The $600 checks were a last-minute deal, and Democrats shifted funding in the bill from unemployment benefits to pay for
them.
Though Mr. Trump ultimately signed the legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., teed up a roll call vote for the Caring For Americans With Supplemental Help, or Cash Act, that would provide $2,000 checks. The Joint Committee on Taxation, which analyzes the cost of bills, estimated the larger checks would cost an additional $464 billion.
Ms. Pelosi, in a floor speech shortly before the vote, called the higher checks a “lifeline for millions of Americans.”
“Republicans have a choice: Vote for this legislation or vote to deny the American people the bigger paycheck they need,” Ms. Pelosi said.
“The president of the United States has put this forth as something he wants to see as part of his signing the legislation [Sunday]. I hope the view will be shared by Republicans in the Senate.”
House Republicans, whose leadership earlier blocked a Dec. 24 vote on the bill, questioned
whether the broad cash payments would miss the mark.
“I worry that, as we spend another half a trillion dollars so hastily, that we’re not targeting this help to the Americans struggling the most,” Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said on the floor. “It does nothing to help people get back to work.”
Both of the Pittsburgh region’s two Democrats — Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, and Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon — voted to override Mr. Trump’s veto and for expanded cash payments.
Mr. Lamb, who helped to negotiate the final version of the defense bill, called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to take up the measures.
“You can’t get twothirds of this Congress to agree on much, but tonight we had overwhelming bipartisan votes,” Mr. Lamb said Monday.