President Trump this afternoon followed through on his earlier threats and vetoed the FY2021 defense authorization bill, known as the “NDAA.” The legislation sets defense policies every year and addresses issues like troop withdrawals, and has been adopted every year since 1967. The bill was approved by Congress earlier this month by veto-proof margins in both chambers.
Trump wanted the bill to include a provision that stripped away protections for social media companies, a topic that is not related to defense. He also wanted the to prevent the renaming of Southern military bases. Trump had threatened to veto the legislation over those two provisions and he followed through on that threat this afternoon.
The House will be in session next Monday and may seek to override the veto then. The Senate is scheduled to be in session Tuesday and may follow suit, if the House is successful in its override attempt. Although the House vote earlier this month was by a veto-proof margin of 335 – 78, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) did not commit to push House Republicans to override a veto from President Trump. The Senate vote was also by a veto-proof margin, 83-14.
Based on the White House developments earlier this afternoon on the omnibus appropriations/COVID package, Monday could turn out to be even more critical, as the current government funding bill expires at Midnight Tuesday.
Read more about the unfolding situation here, here, and here.