US lawmakers support defence bill with majority needed to override Trump's veto power

The United States House of Representatives on Tuesday voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with an overwhelming majority making it impossible for incumbent Donald Trump to use his veto power against it. The members of the lower house voted in favour of the bill with 335 of 430 votes, way above the minimum number of votes needed to override the veto power of the US President. What surprised many was that 40 of the 196 Republicans in the House also voted in favour of the bill. 

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The $740.5 billion Pentagon budget bill will now go to the Senate for a vote, where it is also expected to pass. Earlier in the day, Donald Trump had expressed  dissatisfaction with the bill as he urged the House Republicans to vote against it. Trump has several complaints with the bill in its current form, which has been proposed after months of negotiations between the Republicans and Democrats. 

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Why Trump wanted the bill to lose vote? 

Donald Trump wanted a clause in the bill for the termination of Section 230, a law that grants immunity to social media firms from third-party content published on their platforms. Trump alleges that the law hampers the national security of the country and has rallied against it repeatedly. Trump is also against the bill because it calls for the renaming of US military bases named after Confederates generals, who fought for preserving the institution of slavery during the American Civil War.

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Trump also wants Republicans to vote against the bill because it imposes a deadline of at least 120 days on the Pentagon before deciding to reduce American troops in Germany. Trump wants to reduce the number of American troops stationed in the European country, which his critics believe will threaten the US' national security and weaken NATO but the President argues it to be an unnecessary expenditure. 

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