Washington: The Senate on Friday approved a wide-ranging defence policy bill, sending it to President Donald Trump, despite his threat to veto the bill because it does not clamp down on big tech companies he claims were biased during the election.
The final vote was 84-13, mirroring a similarly overwhelming margin in the House that, if maintained in both chambers, would be enough to override a potential veto.
The Senate vote had been expected Thursday but was delayed after Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky objected to the measure, saying it could limit Trump’s ability to draw down US troops from Afghanistan and Germany.
Paul’s actions had raised the specter of a brief government shutdown if a short-term spending bill caught up in the dispute was not approved by midnight Friday, but that possibility faded Friday afternoon.
Congress has approved the bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, for nearly 60 years in a row. The current version affirms 3 per cent pay raises for U.S. troops and authorizes more than USD 740 billion in military programs and construction.
Trump has vowed to veto the bill unless lawmakers impose limits on social media companies he claims were biased against him during the election. Trump has also said he wants Congress to strip out a provision of the bill that allows renaming of military bases that now honour Confederate leaders.
Paul said Friday that his main point in filibustering the bill was to point out that the president should have the prerogative to end a war, not just to start wars.
Paul said that neoconservatives such as Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are inconsistent in saying they want … to give the commander-in-chief powers to begin war, but then they want to restrain and hamstring a president from ending a war. I think it’s a pretty important principle to discuss so we did hold things up for a day.
Two amendments addressing troop deployment could create 535 commanders-in-chief in Congress, Paul said, hampering the president’s ability to draw down troops in Afghanistan and Germany. Democrats support the measure because they oppose Trump, Paul said, but the amendment would also apply to future presidents, including President-elect Joe Biden.
One amendment, co-sponsored by Cheney and Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, an Afghanistan veteran, would block troop withdrawals in Afghanistan unless the Pentagon submits inter-agency reports certifying that the drawdowns would not jeopardize national security.
A separate provision pushed by Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney and other lawmakers would limit planned troop withdrawals in Germany.