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Hard defeat of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, about three weeks before leaving office: the United States Congress has annulled Trump’s veto on the defense budget. Following the House of Representatives, the Senate, dominated by Trump’s Republicans, voted with an overwhelming majority for the $ 740 billion budget on Friday.
It is the first time in Trump’s term that Congress has rejected a formal President’s objection to a bill.
In the Senate, the two-thirds majority required to reject Trump’s veto was easily achieved. Although the Republicans of the president of the United States constitute the majority there, more than 80 of the 100 senators now voted for the defense budget. The two-thirds majority on camera was comfortably outnumbered. The massive legislative package can now go into effect despite the absence of Trump’s signature.
Inter-party support for the home for 59 years
The legislative package on the defense budget comprises more than 4,500 pages and provides for a budget of around 740 billion dollars (611 billion euros). Because it is politically unthinkable that the military budget will not materialize, the package in the US often also includes numerous regulations that are not directly related to the financing of the armed forces. The defense budget was approved with bipartisan support for 59 years in a row, also this year.
Democrats and Republicans have stipulated that Trump’s planned massive withdrawal of US soldiers from Germany will be blocked for the time being. The wording of the law states that the United States Secretary of Defense must declare in a report to Congress whether such a withdrawal would be in the national interest of the United States. At the earliest 120 days later, the number of US soldiers stationed in the Federal Republic may fall below the 34,500 limit. In addition, the law states that threats of sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline in the German-Russian Baltic Sea will be expanded.
Trump had vetoed the congressional decision. In support of this, he asserted in a letter to the House of Representatives that the law was contrary to the foreign policy and national security of his government.
Revenge on Twitter and Facebook?
Among other things, the president criticized the fact that online platforms are not being regulated more strictly. He wanted Congress to change what is known as Section 230, which protects online platforms from being held accountable for content posted by their users. Trump called the agreement “a serious threat to national security and the integrity of the elections.” Critics, in turn, accuse Trump of only wanting revenge on Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, Trump is a thorn in the side of the renaming of several military bases following protests against racism.
Trump considers it unconstitutional that the withdrawal of soldiers from Afghanistan, South Korea and Germany ordered by him is now limited by law. Under the constitution, the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he said. The decision on how many soldiers should be deployed where is therefore yours.
During his four-year tenure, Trump had vetoed congressional legislative plans eight times. In none of these cases, however, had the required two-thirds majority been achieved in the chambers of parliament to override their veto. Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives and Republicans in the Senate.
Trump lost the presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden in early November. Trump refuses to admit defeat. Biden will be sworn in on January 20. Until then, Trump remains in office with full rights.
