U.S. Senate overrides Trump in rare stand

Defence bill shepherded through

WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Friday overrode his veto for the first time in his nearly four years in office, pushing through a defence policy bill against his strong objections weeks before he leaves office.

Meeting in a rare New Year's Day session, the Senate voted 81-13 to secure the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto with bipartisan support. Eight previous vetoes were upheld.

The Friday session, widely seen as the last before a new Congress is sworn in on Sunday, also appeared to end for now a push by Democrats to increase COVID-19 relief cheques from $600 to $2,000 sought by Trump. Senator Bernie Sanders again joined Democrats in a bid to force a vote on higher payments, only to be blocked by Republicans.

Since losing his re-election bid in November, however, Trump has lashed out at them for not fully backing his unsupported claims of voter fraud, for rejecting his demand for bigger COVID-19 relief cheques, and for moving to override his veto.

The vote in the Republican-led Senate followed a similar override vote in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Monday.

A president has the power to veto a bill passed by Congress, but lawmakers can uphold the bill if two-thirds of both houses vote to override the veto.

The US$740-billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) determines everything from how many ships are bought to soldiers' pay and how to address geopolitical threats.

Trump refused to sign it into law because it did not repeal certain legal protections for social media platforms and included a provision stripping the names of Confederate generals from military bases.

Seven Republicans joined five Democrats and Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, in opposing the override.

The vote could have implications for two U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia Tuesday that will decide control of the chamber under President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on Jan. 20.