US House votes to override Trump veto of key defence bill

Donald Trump reluctantly signed a $900 billion coronavirus relief and stimulus package

Credit: AFP

The US House of Representatives dealt a blow to President Donald Trump on Monday by rejecting his veto of a defence bill, setting the stage for the Senate to deliver a humiliating first veto override in the final days of his presidency.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 322 to 87 to override Mr Trump’s veto of the $740.5 billion (£549.72 billion) defence bill with 109 members of the president’s own Republican Party siding with Democrats.

A similar motion will be introduced in the Republican-majority Senate, where it will also have to gain two-thirds support to override the president’s veto.

In a statement released after the vote, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed Mr Trump’s veto as "reckless" and called on the president to "end his eleventh-hour campaign of chaos".

The House vote came a day after Mr Trump caved to pressure from both Republicans and Democrats and reluctantly signed a $900 billion coronavirus relief and stimulus package that he had threatened to veto.

Mr Trump’s capitulation on the Covid-19 relief bill and the looming congressional veto override are the latest signs of his waning powers as he prepares to leave the White House on January 20.

The fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorisation Act was passed this month by 335 votes to 78 in the House and by 84 to 13 in the Senate.

But the NDAA was vetoed by the president because it did not repeal Section 230, a federal law that provides liability protection to internet companies.

Mr Trump also opposed a provision that would strip several US military bases of the names of generals who fought for the secessionist, pro-slavery South in the 1861-65 Civil War.

Including the defence bill, Mr Trump has vetoed nine bills during his four years in the White House. Congress has not previously mustered the votes needed to override any of his vetoes.