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Despite strong support in Congress, US President Donald Trump has vetoed the approved defense budget. Trump said he could not support the law.
The Republican justified the measure Wednesday with the lack of “critical measures” to protect national security. “It is a ‘gift’ for China and Russia,” he wrote in a statement to the House of Representatives.
Trump criticized the fact that online platforms would not be more strictly regulated under the comprehensive legislative package. He also criticized the fact that the possible renaming of the military bases does not respect the history of the armed forces. Trump also criticized the attempt to legally limit the withdrawal of soldiers from Afghanistan, South Korea and Germany that he had ordered.
Trump had already announced his veto. However, his blockade could be overturned by a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, that is, in both houses of Congress. Both houses had originally approved the package with a majority of more than two-thirds.
In a statement and on Twitter, Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democratic group, criticized the president’s conduct as “an act of heartbreaking cruelty that harms our troops, threatens our security and undermines the will of the bipartisan Congress.” veto the House of Representatives with “nonpartisan support.”
Shortly before the end of his presidency, it would be the first time for Trump that Congress overrides his veto. Trump has vetoed it eight times in his four-year term. The Republican lost the presidential election on November 3 to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump refuses to admit defeat.
The legislative package on the defense budget comprises more than 4,500 pages and provides for a budget of around 740 billion dollars (about 610 billion euros). The defense budget was approved with bipartisan support for 59 consecutive years. Because the failure of the defense budget is politically unthinkable, the legislative package – as is customary in the United States – also deals with numerous regulations that are not directly related to the financing of the armed forces.
