President Donald Trump called on GOP leaders in the Senate not to override his veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after the House was able to.
The Senate is slated to take up the bill starting at 12 p.m. on Tuesday, although Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he would slow down the NDAA veto override to get a vote on the $2,000 stimulus payments to people. The House passed the $2,000 stimulus check bill on Monday night.
The NDAA was passed in the Senate in an 84-13 vote, meaning that Sanders’ efforts to fillibuster will likely be overcome.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said he would join Sanders’ efforts to slow down the measure.
“I will be joining @BernieSanders in blocking the defense bill until we get a vote on $2,000 in direct cash relief. That relief passed in the House today with 44 Republicans voting for it. Senate Republicans must do the same and get the American people the help they need,” Markey wrote on Twitter.
About a week ago, Trump vetoed the NDAA because it failed to change or remove Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which has been flagged by him and other Republicans as an enabler of censorship by tech companies such as Facebook or Twitter.
“Unfortunately, the Act 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 in our national security and foreign policy actions,” he said in a Dec. 23 statement after vetoing the measure. “It is a ‘gift’ to China and Russia.”
The NDAA, he said, goes against his foreign policy mandate.
“Not only is this bad policy, but it is unconstitutional,” he added in a statement at the time. “Article II of the Constitution makes the President the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States and vests in him the executive power. Therefore, the decision regarding how many troops to deploy and where, including in Afghanistan, Germany, and South Korea, rests with him.”
