Trump Vetoes National Defense Authorization Act

© Tom Brenner/Reuters President Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md, December 12, 2020.

President Trump vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, sending the legislation back to the House.

The NDAA had been passed every year in some form for the past 59 years, and the current iteration allocates around $740 in defense spending as well as a 3 percent pay raise for American troops. Trump had threatened to veto the bill unless Congress also repealed Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and gave the president greater leeway to withdraw American troops stationed in Germany, South Korea, and other nations.

The bill “fails to include critical national security measures, includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by my Administration to put America first,” Trump said in a statement.

Both the House and Senate passed the NDAA by veto-proof margins. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) urged the president on Tuesday not to veto the bill, and scheduled a veto-override session for December 29 in case Trump made good on his threat.

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