Senate vote on defense bill delivers 1st override of Trump veto
Vote on defense bill is rebuke of president, several of his policies
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Friday voted to turn a $741 billion defense authorization bill into law over President Donald Trump’s objections, delivering the first successful veto override of his presidency in the waning days of his administration.
The 81-13 vote in the Senate, just days after the House also voted in overwhelming numbers to back the legislation, was one of two rare rebukes of Trump on Friday from Republican lawmakers.
Ahead of the vote on rejecting the president’s veto, Senate Republicans blocked a Trump-endorsed effort to increase the size of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.
The move on checks prompted an angry response from the president. “Pathetic!!!” Trump tweeted. “Now they want to give people ravaged by the China Virus $600, rather than the $2000 which they so desperately need. Not fair, or smart!”
For months, Trump’s objections to the defense bill cast a shadow over negotiations between the House and Senate over the measure, despite the fact that veto-proof, bipartisan majorities had voted in favor of earlier versions of the legislation.
In particular, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, argued that lawmakers would have to excise provisions ordering the removal of Confederate names from bases in order to pass the bill. But by early December, Inhofe gave up his protest, and Friday, he cheered the passage of the defense bill over Trump’s objections.
The veto override also came as Senate GOP leaders were urging rank-and-file Republicans not to join an effort to contest the 2020 election results when Congress meets Wednesday to certify the Electoral College vote.
Earlier this week, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced he would object to the results, paving the way for senators to join him.
While GOP leaders have said they will let members vote their conscience, they also signaled their disquiet.
“I don’t think anybody is anxious to do this,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Friday, adding that “in the end I don’t think it changes anything.”
The strong bipartisan majorities supporting the defense bill in both chambers represented a significant rebuke of the president, as it contains several repudiations of his policies as commander in chief.
The bill contains new restrictions on how much of the military’s construction budget the president may move by emergency order — a direct response to Trump’s efforts to divert billions of the Pentagon’s dollars toward the border wall. It also limits the president’s ability to draw down troop levels in Germany, South Korea and Afghanistan — a move Trump planned over objections from members of his own party.