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WASHINGTON – Donald Trump reiterated on Sunday his promise to veto a broad defense budget bill, which U.S. lawmakers passed by margins that would allow them to override the president’s rejection.
With only a few weeks left in the White House, Trump has criticized the $ 740.5 billion measure in part because it does not repeal a law that gives social media companies liability protection for third-party content on their platforms.
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Trump has said that social media giants like Facebook and Google are biased against him.
He has also voiced his disapproval of the language of the bill calling for renaming the US military bases honoring pro-slavery Southern commanders in the Civil War.
In a short Twitter message in capital letters, Trump said: “The biggest winner from our new defense bill is China. I’m going to veto!”
The legislation passed with more than two-thirds of the “supermajority” needed to overcome a veto: 84-13 in the Republican-led Senate and 335-78 in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.
Assuming Trump delivers on his promise, the legislation would be sent back to Congress, where lawmakers would have to pass it by a two-thirds majority to override the president.
The defense bill was a particular priority for some Republicans.
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Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, called it “the most important bill of the year.”
The bill also requires the president to impose sanctions on Turkey within 30 days for the acquisition of a Russian-made missile defense system. Trump has resisted such punishments against Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
