Congress decides to block Trump’s German troop cuts in defense bill



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According to a summary of the NDAA conference report released by the House Armed Services Committee.

In late July, the Trump administration said it would reduce the number of US troops in Germany from around 36,000 to 11,900, saying force repositioning could begin “within a few weeks.”

“We are spending a lot of money on Germany, they are taking advantage of us for trade and they are taking advantage of the military, so we are reducing the force,” Trump told reporters at the White House in July when the cuts were made. announced.

The legislation also contains a similar provision for the approximately 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, prohibiting any reduction in U.S. personnel until 90 days after the Secretary of Defense has certified certain conditions have been met.

The Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bill could also affect Trump’s efforts to reduce levels of US troops in Afghanistan, forcing “ the administration to submit a comprehensive interagency risk and impact assessment before using funds to reduce US military personnel. in Afghanistan below 4000 or current levels and still before firing below 2000, ā€¯according to an NDAA summary released by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The bill also includes provisions to address some of the controversies that have emerged over the summer regarding the federal government’s response to civil unrest following the police murder of George Floyd.

The bill prohibits the Pentagon from transferring bayonets, deadly grenades, armed tracked vehicles, and armed drones to law enforcement and tribal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

It also requires that military or federal law enforcement personnel assisting federal authorities in responding to civil unrest “visibly display” their names or other unique “individual identifiers” and “the name of the armed force, federal entity or any other organization through which these individual is employed. “

Trump threatened to veto the NDAA on Tuesday unless Congress removes legal protections for social media companies in Section 230 as part of the bill, setting up a showdown with Congress over legislation that would give to the troops an increase and define a defense policy.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, then called Trump and told him they weren’t going to have this fight. Inhofe also clarified that a provision allowing the renaming of military bases named after Confederate figures remained in force.

But Trump demanded that the protections be cut again Thursday morning, accusing some of his party’s senators of wanting to back down.

“Looks like some Republican senators are cold-eyed about the termination of Big Tech Section 230, national security and electoral integrity MUST,” he tweeted Thursday. “For years, everything talks, no action. Termination must be put in the defense bill !!!”

The NDAA is likely to pass with a veto-proof majority, despite the president’s lame tweets.

In all the moments that Republicans didn’t stand up to Trump, it was pretty clear they didn’t have Wednesday’s antics when it came to a bipartisan bill defining Pentagon policy.

“I don’t think the Defense Bill is the place to argue this,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune said Wednesday, adding that while he supports the revision of Section 230, it debate should follow a separate path.

“What I can tell you is that there will be tremendous support for (the) defense authorization bill to be passed and hopefully signed into law,” the Republican of South Dakota.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Betsy Klein, Lauren Fox, Brian Fung and Manu Raju contributed to this report.



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