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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Friday overruled his veto for the first time in his nearly four years in office, pushing a defense policy bill against his objections in just weeks. before leaving office.
Meeting in a rare session on New Year’s Day, senators voted 81-13 to secure the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto with bipartisan support. Eight previous Trump vetoes were upheld.
The session also appeared to end for now with a push from Democrats to increase the COVID-19 relief checks from $ 600 to $ 2,000 requested by Trump. Sen. Bernie Sanders again joined the Democrats in an attempt to force a vote on higher payouts, only to be blocked by Republicans.
Republican lawmakers have been largely supportive of the president during his turbulent tenure in the White House.
However, since losing his re-election bid in November, Trump has criticized them for failing to fully endorse his baseless claims of voter fraud, for rejecting his demand for larger COVID-19 relief checks and for acting to override his veto.
The vote in the Republican-led Senate followed a similar override in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Monday. A president has the power to veto a bill passed by Congress, but lawmakers can defend the bill if two-thirds of both houses vote to override the veto.
The $ 740 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) determines everything from how many ships are purchased, to paying soldiers, and how to address geopolitical threats.
Trump refused to make it law because he did not repeal certain legal protections for social media platforms and included a provision that removes the names of Confederate generals from military bases.
“We have passed this legislation 59 years in a row. And one way or another, we will complete the 60th annual NDAA and make it law before this Congress concludes on Sunday,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had previously said. of the vote.
In a statement, the Speaker of the Democratic House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, called the congressional vote “a resounding rebuke to President Trump’s reckless assault on US military and national security.”
Pelosi accused the president of using his last weeks in office “to wreak havoc” and said Congress asked him to “end his desperate and dangerous sabotage.”
Seven Republicans joined five Democrats and Sanders, an independent who is part of the Democrats, in opposing the override.
Until Friday’s vote, Trump had been on track to be the first president since Lyndon Johnson without vetoes overridden, according to the University of California Santa Barbara Project for the American Presidency.
The vote could have implications for two US Senate runoff elections in Georgia on Tuesday that will decide control of the chamber under President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on January 20. Senators facing a runoff, Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, strongly back both Trump and the military.
But neither Perdue nor Loeffler voted on Friday. Neither did another staunch Trump ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham. Perdue went into quarantine this week after having contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Spokesmen for Loeffler and Graham did not respond to requests for comment.
After Friday’s vote, the Senate suspended the session until Sunday, when it will meet for a 15-minute pro forma session before meeting again at noon for the inauguration of the new Congress.
Trump, who returned to Washington on Thursday from his private club in Florida, has increased the pressure on fellow Republicans and criticized party leaders for failing to comply with his orders on defense and COVID-19 relief measures and for not joining more fully in their fight to overturn the election results.
As votes were being counted indicating that Trump had lost the battle over the bill, the president took to Twitter to promote a planned protest rally in Washington on Wednesday, the day the new Congress officially counts the votes of the new Congress. Electoral College that certify the presidential victory of Democrat Biden.
Some Trump allies in Congress have said they plan to object on Trump’s behalf, including Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who expects as many as 140 House Republicans to join. The objections are expected to be rejected by the vast majority of lawmakers.
“This is my only chance in this process to be heard,” Hawley told reporters Friday. “And speak on behalf of my constituents.”
But Hawley acknowledged that he is still undecided about how many state election results will be the target of his objections: “I have not worked out the mechanisms, correct.”
Republican Senator Ben Sasse criticized the move as an effort by ambitious politicians to tap into Trump’s populist base, saying in a statement on Facebook Wednesday: “Adults do not point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.”
Later on Friday, Trump tweeted about the Senate’s refusal to accept his request for more help from COVID-19 and lift legal protections for social media platforms.
“Our Republican Senate just missed a chance to get rid of Section 230, which gives unlimited power to big tech companies. Pathetic! Now they want to give people devastated by the China virus $ 600, instead of the $ 600. 2000 that they so desperately need. It’s not fair or smart! “He wrote.
(Report by David Morgan in Washington; additional report by David Brunnstrom; written by Susan Heavey; edited by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)
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