By Aiyeku Timothy
President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual bipartisan defense policy bill after describing it as ‘unconstitutional’.
He made the decision following threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency.
The bill suggests 3% pay raises for U.S. troops and authorizes more than $740 billion in military programs and construction.
Donald Trump also raised the prospect that the United States could face a government shutdown during a pandemic, stirring new turmoil in Washington as he headed to Florida for Christmas.
In his veto message to the House, Trump cited those objections and stated that the measure “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. It is a ‘gift’ to China and Russia.”
He also wrote: “Numerous provisions of the Act directly contradict my Administration’s foreign policy, particularly my efforts to bring our troops home.”
Before Trump’s latest move, the House was poised to return Monday, and the Senate on Tuesday, to consider votes to override the president’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has reacted to the move by Trump, calling it “an act of staggering recklessness that harms our troops, endangers our security and undermines the will of the bipartisan Congress.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, before the veto, urged the passage despite Trump’s threat, noting that it was important for Congress to continue its nearly six-decade-long streak of passing the defense policy bill.
It is gathered that with less than a month left in office, Trump is angry that some Republicans have acknowledged his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the November 3 election as Biden will be sworn in as president on January 20, 2021.
