Washington: The US Congress’ upper house Senate override President Donald Trump’s veto on the national defense bill for fiscal year 2021. More than two-thirds of the Senate members supporting the bill rejected Trump’s veto on Friday. The Senate decision is considered a major setback for Trump. This is the first time in his tenure. The Senate has passed this defense bill called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a margin of 81–13.
On 23 December, the US President announced a veto on this bill. The House of Representatives, the lower house of the US parliament, passed the $ 740 billion defense bill on Monday with a margin of 322-87. The House of Representatives referred the bill to the Senate with a majority of Republican parties to consider it.
Only through this bill will the next one year be spent on America’s defense policy. Trump, who is about to leave the presidency in a few weeks, opposed some provisions of the bill. He has opposed policies that limit the number of American troops withdrawn in Afghanistan and Europe.
The NDAA has a provision to ban the Nord Stream-2 pipeline project and to take action against Turkey for the purchase of the Russian missile defense system S-400. Significantly, the President’s signature is mandatory for a bill passed by the US Congress to become law.
In some rare circumstances the President does not sign the bill or veto it. This is due to differences in policy matters. But the members of the House can pass the bill with more than two-thirds majority in both the Houses and reject the President’s veto and make the Bill a law.