President Trump followed through today on threats to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Dec. 23. Both houses of Congress have already set up post-Christmas sessions to conduct votes aimed at overriding the presidential veto.
According to the text of the veto statement, President Trump objected to the failure of the NDAA to address his desired change to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act – a law that is unrelated to military affairs. Section 230 of that law provides liability protections to online publishers of third-party content – such as social media companies – and the President said he regards Section 230 as both a national security and election security problem.
President Trump also stated his objection to a provision in the NDAA that calls for re-naming military bases that are now named for Confederate generals.
“The Act fails even to make any meaningful changes to Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, despite bipartisan calls for repealing that provision,” President Trump said. “Additionally, the Act includes language that would require the renaming of certain military installations.
“Numerous provisions of the Act directly contradict my Administration’s foreign policy, particularly my efforts to bring our troops home. … For all of these reasons, I cannot support this bill,” he said.
Both houses of Congress passed the NDAA with veto-proof majorities, and have already set up sessions for next week to deal with the veto. The House passed the act on Dec. 8 and will return on Dec. 28 for a special session, and the Senate passed the act on Dec. 11 and will return on Dec. 29.
