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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPresident Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on 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 affirms 3% pay raises for U.S. troops and authorizes more than $740 billion in military programs and construction.
Trump has offered a series of rationales for vetoing the bill. He has called for lawmakers to include limits on social media companies he claimed are biased against him. He has called for stripping out language that allows for the renaming of military bases such as Fort Benning and Fort Hood that honor Confederate leaders. Without going into detail, he has claimed the biggest winner from the defense bill would be China.
Both the House and Senate passed the measure by margins large enough to override a veto from the president. Trump had vetoed eight bills previously, but those vetoes were sustained because supporters did not gain the two-thirds vote needed in each chamber for the bill to become law without Trump’s signature.
In advance of the veto, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said the bill would help deter Chinese aggression. Other GOP backers of the measure, including Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Senate leader, and Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, have tweeted that the bill would counter threats from countries such as China.
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I’d say Trump is like a child, but that might be insulting to the more mature children out there. Remember when people thought he might become more presidential?
“Everyone look at me! I’m still important!”
Heaven knows what all is in these monstrous bills. The base renaming alone is reason to veto. These attempts at trying to rewrite history by the self-appointed social justice nutcases has to stop.
I don’t understand the desire to name bases after treasonous Confederate generals. I mean, Benedict Arnold doesn’t have a base named after him, does he?
We need new legislation that requires congress members to take a test on each bill that comes up for a vote. If they pass, which demonstrates they know key provisions of what is in the bill, they become eligible to vote. If they fail, they are ineligible to vote.
Same law should apply to the President before he signs any legislation into law.