Congress overrides Trump’s veto
Vote in Senate on defense bill seals rebuke of president
WASHINGTON — Congress on Friday overrode President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, a first by lawmakers since he took office nearly four years ago, ensuring that the measure becomes law despite Trump’s rejection.
In an extraordinary New Year’s Day session, the Republican-controlled Senate easily turned aside the veto, dismissing Trump’s objections to the $740 billion bill and handing him a stinging rebuke weeks before he leaves the White House.
Trump lashed out on Twitter, saying the Senate missed an opportunity to eliminate protections for social media platforms that he said give “unlimited power to Big Tech companies. Pathetic!!!”
Trump also slammed lawmakers for rejecting his call to increase COVID-19 relief payments to $2,000: “They want to give people ravaged by the China Virus $600, rather than the $2000 which they so desperately need. Not fair, or smart!”
The 81-13 vote in the Senate on the widely popular defense bill followed an earlier 322-87 override vote in the House. The bill affirms a 3% pay raise for U.S. troops and guides defense policy, cementing decisions about troop levels, new weapons systems and military readiness, personnel policy and other military goals.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the “sweeping and overwhelmingly bipartisan votes” in the House and Senate “delivered a resounding rebuke to President Trump’s reckless assault on America’s military and national security.”
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,” Pelosi said. “Instead of keeping Americans safe, the president continues to use his final moments in office to sow chaos and undermine our security.”
The defense bill, which now has the force of law, “looks after our brave men and women who volunteer to wear the uniform,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “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.”
The Senate override was delayed after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., objected to moving ahead until McConnell allowed a vote on the Trump-backed plan to boost COVID relief payments to $2,000. McConnell did not allow that vote; instead he used his parliamentary power to set a vote limiting debate on the defense measure, overcoming a filibuster threat by Sanders and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
Trump vetoed the defense measure last week, saying it failed to limit Twitter and other social media companies he claimed were biased against him during his failed reelection campaign. Trump also opposed language that allows for the renaming of military bases that honor Confederate leaders.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a close Trump ally, hailed the override vote.
“Today, the Senate sent a strong message of support to our troops,” Inhofe said. “Not only does this bill give our service members and their families the resources they need, but it also makes our nation more secure — pushing back against China and Russia (and) strengthening our cyber defenses.”
Only seven GOP senators voted with Trump to oppose the override. Forty Republicans voted for the override, along with 41 Democrats.
Trump also complained that the bill restricted his ability to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan and Germany. The measure requires the Pentagon to submit reports certifying that the proposed withdrawals would not jeopardize U.S. national security.
Trump has vetoed eight other bills, but those were all sustained because supporters did not gain the two-thirds vote needed in each chamber for the bills to become law without Trump’s signature.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to dismiss a last-gasp lawsuit led by a House Republican that seeks to give Vice President Mike Pence the power to overturn the results of the presidential election won by Joe Biden when Congress formally counts the Electoral College votes.
Pence, as president of the Senate, will oversee the session Wednesday and declare the winner of the White House race. The Electoral College last month cemented Biden’s 306-232 victory.
The suit names Pence, who has a largely ceremonial role in next week’s proceedings, as the defendant and asks the court to throw out the 1887 law that spells out how Congress handles the vote counting. It asserts that the vice president “may exercise the exclusive authority and sole discretion in determining which electoral votes to count for a given State.”
In a court filing in Texas on Wednesday, the Justice Department said Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and a group of Republican electors from Arizona “have sued the wrong defendant” — if, in fact, any of those suing actually have “a judicially cognizable claim.”
The department said, in effect, that the suit objects to long-standing procedures laid out in law, “not any actions that Vice President Pence has taken,” so he should not be the target of the suit.
“A suit to establish that the Vice President has discretion over the count, filed against the Vice President, is a walking legal contradiction,” the department argued.