Trump rejects NDAA’s $ 740 billion defense bill

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the sweeping defense bill that authorizes a total of $ 740 billion in spending and outlines Pentagon policy.

Earlier this month, the National Defense Authorization Act was passed by both houses of Congress with veto margins, meaning any veto from Trump would likely be overturned.

Congress must now vote again to replace Trump.

This year’s 4,517-page defense bill, which is typically passed with strong bipartisan support and veto-proof majorities, funds the U.S. national security portfolio. It has been promulgated for nearly six consecutive decades.

Passage of the bill, at a minimum, secures salary increases for soldiers and keeps critical defense modernization programs running.

Trump has presented various reasons for opposing the defense bill. Earlier this month, he threatened with a veto if lawmakers did not include a measure to eliminate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects tech giants like Facebook and Twitter from be held legally responsible for what is published on their platforms. Trump has repeatedly accused Twitter, his favorite social media platform, of unfairly censoring him.

Trump renewed the threat last week.

The president previously said the move posed a serious threat to U.S. national security as well as electoral integrity, but gave no further details. Trump also claimed the bill favors China.

The president’s issue with Section 230 came to light this summer after Twitter added warning labels to several of its tweets indicating that postal voting was fraudulent. Trump has yet to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.

The NDAA, in its current form, does not include any measures related to section 230.

Trump also insisted that the defense spending bill included language preventing the renaming of military bases commemorating Confederate-era figures.

Over the summer, the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee approved a provision by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Requiring the Pentagon to rename military assets named after symbols of Confederation, the group of states that seceded from the United States and fought. the Union in the Civil War.

Trump, in a multi-tweet post in June, dismissed the idea, saying the Confederate names of the bases are now part of the nation’s great “heritage”.

“It has been suggested to rename up to 10 of our legendary military bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These monumental and very powerful bases are now part of a Great American heritage and a story of victory, victory and freedom, ”Trump wrote on Twitter.

“The United States of America has trained and deployed our HEROES to these Sacred Lands, and has won two world wars. Therefore, my administration will not even consider renaming these magnificent and fabulous military installations,” wrote the president. .

CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.