House Supports Handing Trump First Veto Override

Defense spending bill needs two-thirds support in the Senate to become law
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 28, 2020 7:15 PM CST
House Supports Handing Trump First Veto Override
President Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House earlier this month.   (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

For the first time, President Trump lost a congressional vote on a veto override on Monday. The House vote to enact the annual defense bill over Trump's veto was 322-87, well beyond the two-thirds support needed to pass the measure, the Hill reports. The vote the first time around was 335-78. The bill also would need two-thirds approval to pass the Senate, a margin it cleared on the first vote. The bill is named for Rep. Mac Thornberry, a Republican member of the Armed Services Committee who's retiring. "I would only ask that as members vote, they put the best interests of the country first," Thornberry said in urging approval. "There is no other consideration that should matter." No member spoke on the House floor in favor of upholding the veto, per Politico.

A defense spending bill has passed Congress for 60 consecutive years. In vetoing this year's measure, per the New York Times, Trump ran into a Republican tenet of supporting the military. The bill provides raises for troops and other popular spending. The president has cited several, sometimes changing, reasons for his veto. He objected to the part of the bill that orders taking the names of Confederate leaders off military bases and wanted the measure to end a legal protection for social media companies, which members of both parties say has no part in a piece of defense legislation. Lawmakers had thought passing the bill with support exceeding two-thirds might deter Trump from vetoing it. Congress has voted on overriding Trump's vetoes in the past but fallen short. (More presidential veto stories.)

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