Senate sends military bill to Trump’s desk

WASHINGTON >> The Senate overwhelmingly passed a sweeping military policy bill Friday that would require that Confederate names be stripped from U.S. military bases, clearing the measure for enactment and sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk in defiance of his threats of a veto.

The 84-13 vote to approve the legislation reflected broad bipartisan support for the measure that authorizes pay for U. S. troops and was intended to signal to Trump that lawmakers, including many Republicans, were determined to pass the critical bill even if it meant potentially delivering the first veto override of his presidency.

The margin surpassed the two-thirds majority needed in both houses to force enactment of the bill over Trump’s objections. The House also met that threshold in passing the measure Tuesday, raising the prospect of a potential veto showdown during Trump’s final weeks in office.

The scene that played out on the Senate floor Friday underscored how Republicans, who have been reluctant to challenge the president on any other issue during his four years in office, have been extraordinarily willing to break with Trump over one of the party’s key orthodoxies — projecting military strength.

“I encourage all of us to do what we have to do to get this bill done,” Sen. James M. Inhofe, R- Okla., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told his colleagues in a speech from the floor. “There’s no one more deserving in America than our troops that are out there in harm’s way, and we’re going to make sure we do the right thing for them.”

Thirteen senators, split evenly among party lines, voted against the bill, with Republicans supporting Trump’s objections and Democrats chafing at the bill’s topline number.