McConnell says Senate Republicans will defy Trump by overriding veto on defence bill
Progressive lawmakers demand Senate vote on $2,000 coronavirus relief payments as GOP leader pushes to override president’s challenge to military spending legislation
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Your support makes all the difference.The US Senate will vote to override Donald Trump’s veto of a $740bn defence spending bill after the president pledged to strike down the legislation over unrelated social media grievances and efforts to rename military bases named after Confederate leaders.
The Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said that “not once in six decades has a Congress let its differences prevent it from completing this work for its national security”.
“Soon this important legislation will be passed into law,” he said from the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.
The Senate will vote on overriding the president’s veto on Wednesday, he said.
The National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) passed both chambers of Congress earlier this month by veto-proof majorities in both chambers. The House of Representatives voted to override the president’s veto on Monday night.
Military funding in the bill includes a 3 per cent pay rise for US troops, as well as veteran health support and many other non-combat measures.
Looking for leverage to strike a blow against “big tech”, the president vetoed the spending bill for its “failure to terminate the very dangerous national security risk of Section 230”, part of the Communications Decency Act that prevents internet companies from being held liable for the content posted on their platforms by third parties, a provision unrelated to defence spending.
He also withheld his signature on critically needed coronavirus relief for almost a week, announcing on Sunday that his approval was conditional on the Senate’s promise to repeal Section 230 and investigate allegations of voter fraud, of which there is no widespread evidence.
House lawmakers approved the NDAA earlier this month with a veto-proof vote of 355-78, and the GOP-dominated Senate approved the measure with a vote of 84-13.
Senators Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey have objected to a vote on the NDAA before a vote on $2,000 direct payments to Americans under a certain income level, which passed the House of Representatives with a two-thirds majority vote on Monday night.
Senator McConnell said that the Senate will “begin a process” on the stimulus payments, as well as Section 230 and election fraud, at the president’s requests.
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