ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP / Getty Images
President Donald Trump has officially vetoed the NDAA passed by both houses of Congress.
The official announcement from the president says that he vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act because it “failes to include critical national security measures, inclosed provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by my Administration to put America first in national security and foreign policy actions.”
He called the authorization, which was passed by a veto-proof bipartisan majority, a “‘gift’ to China and Russia.”
NEW: Trump vetoes the NDAA pic.twitter.com/oqzYwKJhGm
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) December 23, 2020
(To be clear, this is a veto of the NDAA and NOT of the massive omnibus legislation containing Covid relief.)
Two key reasons he cites for vetoing the critical national security bill are 1) the fact it doesn’t address his personal gripes about Section 230 of the Communications Decenty Act (more here on exactly what it does), and 2) “language that would require the renaming of certain military installations.”
That provision concerns the renaming of bases named for Confederate generals.
The president frames that push as “politically motivated attempts… to wash away history and to dishonor the immense progress our country has fought for in realizing our founding principles.”
The Section 230 complaint cited in the veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, meanwhile, is tied to Trump’s long-running complaints about Twitter:
Why isn’t Biden corruption trending number one on Twitter? Biggest world story, and nowhere to be found. There is no”trend”, only negative stories that Twitter wants to put up. Disgraceful! Section 230
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2020
Twitter is out of control, made possible through the government gift of Section 230!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2020
The veto announcement also points to provisions the president says “directly contradict” his foreign policy and “efforts to bring our troops home.”
Senator James Inhofe (R- OK) — who pushed back on the idea of including the Section 230 issue in the NDAA — seems to be open to an override of the president’s veto.
JUST IN: @SASCMajority‘s @JimInhofe on @realDonaldTrump veto of the #NDAA
“The NDAA has become law every year for 59 years straight because it’s absolutely vital to our national security…This year must not be an exception”
As for #Section230, Inhofe says address it separately pic.twitter.com/pAOJK4YCEJ
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) December 23, 2020
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
