Defense Budget: US House of Representatives overrides Trump veto – News

• The United States House of Representatives overruled current President Donald Trump’s veto on the defense budget.
• In a vote in the House of Congress on Monday (local time), the necessary two-thirds majority was achieved.
• If the Senate also votes against Trump’s line in a next step, the congressional veto would be overridden for the first time in his term.

The president had refused to sign the legislative package on the defense budget, among other things due to a dispute over the regulation of online platforms and a possible renaming of military bases. It comprises more than 4,500 pages and has a budget of around 740 billion dollars (about 656 billion Swiss francs).

Because the failure of the military budget is politically unthinkable, the package, as usual, also deals with numerous regulations that actually have nothing to do with financing the armed forces. The defense budget was passed with bipartisan support for 59 consecutive years, as was the case this year in the democratically controlled House of Representatives and the Republican-dominated Senate.

Troops must remain in Germany

Among other things, the draft stipulates that Trump’s planned mass withdrawal of US soldiers from Germany will be blocked for the time being. It states that the United States Secretary of Defense must explain in a report to Congress whether such a withdrawal would be in the national interest of the United States. At least 120 days later, the number of US soldiers stationed in the Federal Republic should fall below the 34,500 limit. The draft also foresees the expansion of threats of sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline of the German-Russian Baltic Sea.

Pelosi: “Dangerous sabotage attempts”

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Legend:Democrat Pelosi is the Speaker of the House of Representatives.Reuters.

MPs from both parties had campaigned in the chamber ahead of Monday’s vote to continue supporting the bill despite Trump’s objections. The Democratic Chairman of the Defense Committee, Adam smithHe said after the vote that the House of Representatives had given a strong political priority and compromise on “blind political loyalty.” Despite the president’s “dangerous sabotage attempts,” the defense budget will go into effect, said House spokeswoman, the Democrat. Nancy pelosi.

Trump vetoed the legislative package last Wednesday (December 23). 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.

A Senate vote on the defense budget could be delayed until the end of the week due to the dispute over direct aid in the corona pandemic.