In defiance of a veto threat from President Trump, the Senate on Friday easily passed the $741 billion National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021.
Following an overwhelming 335-78 result in the House earlier this week, the Senate’s 84-13 vote provides more than the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a veto, should Trump choose to reject the bill.
The president has issued numerous veto threats on the NDAA, which defines spending levels and sets priorities for defense on an annual basis. Trump has demanded that the bill include a repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which some Republicans say allows tech firms to censor conservative voices. Other provisions, including a requirement that military bases that honor Confederate leaders be renamed, have also been cited by the president as reasons he would issue a veto.
Senate maneuvering: In a rare break with the White House, the bill had the backing of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who said he “would encourage all our colleagues to vote to advance this must-pass bill,” despite its faults. McConnell brought the bill to the floor for a vote following a delay created by his fellow Kentuckian, Sen. Rand Paul, who protested a provision in the bill that limits the president’s ability to remove troops from Afghanistan.
The 13 senators who voted against the bill were split between the parties. The Republicans were expressing support for the president, according to The New York Times, while the Democrats were protesting the topline spending number. Three senators — Republicans Lindsey Graham and Mike Rounds, and Democrat Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect — did not vote. The two Republican lawmakers facing runoff elections in Georgia, Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, voted in favor of the bill, raising questions about Trump’s support for their reelection campaigns in the weeks ahead.
In an odd twist, support of the bill by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was connected to the recently announced deal that normalized relations between Israel and Morocco. According to Axios, Inhofe’s defiance of Trump’s demand to use the NDAA to repeal legal protections for tech firms led to the president embracing international agreement, which had been put on hold due to Inhofe’s opposition.
What’s next: Trump must decide whether to sign or veto the bill. Should he veto it directly, lawmakers would have to vote again to override the veto, with the House going first. While the vote this week suggests Congress will have plenty of votes for an override, the outcome is not guaranteed, with some lawmakers likely flipping one way or another in response to political pressure.
Another option is a pocket veto, in which Trump would simply allow the bill to expire unsinged after 10 days (excluding Sundays). The outcome of that maneuver depends on whether Congress is still in session; if so, the bill automatically becomes law, but if not, the bill expires. “That means,” said The Washington Post’s Karoun Demirjian, “unless Trump signs the bill into law swiftly, Congress could be forced to stay in session through Christmas, when lawmakers are usually out of town.”
