Lawmakers in both parties are set to defy President Trump’s threat to veto a key defense policy bill over military base names and social media liability protection.
Trump tweeted on Monday that he’ll veto the 2021 Defense Authorization Act, which sets annual spending levels and policy for the military, unless it includes a new provision to strip a federal liability shield from social media companies, which he believes have worked to silence him and other conservative voices on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms.
Trump also wants to rid the defense bill of a provision authored by former presidential campaign opponent Sen. Elizabeth Warren calling for the renaming of U.S. military bases that are currently named after Confederate military officers.
But House and Senate lawmakers said that despite Trump’s looming opposition, they aren’t interested in a partisan battle over the must-pass measure, and the defense bill appears poised to pass, likely this month.
The National Defense Authorization Act is among a trio of priority legislation that includes fiscal 2021 spending and a critical coronavirus aid package lawmakers are rushing to negotiate by year’s end.
Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the National Defense Authorization Act is poised to pass this month with at least two-thirds support from the Senate, which would provide a veto-proof majority.
“This is going to pass,” Inhofe told reporters on Wednesday.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, is also ready to bring the defense bill up for a vote in the House, a senior Democratic aide told the Washington Examiner. While the timing of the vote is not set, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he is aiming to complete House business for the year by Dec. 11.
Trump has threatened to veto the defense bill over the base name change provision.
In July, Trump tweeted that Inhofe assured him the Warren provision would not be included in the bill.
“Like me, Jim is not a believer in ‘Cancel Culture,’” Trump tweeted on July 24.
But Inhofe confirmed on Wednesday that the Warren provision remains in the bill to ensure Democratic support.
Inhofe said he agrees with Trump’s criticism of the social media liability shield, known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. But Inhofe said it should remain out of the defense bill because adding it will prompt House Democrats to refuse to draft a critical compromise bill between the House and Senate versions.
“I feel just as passionate about that as he does,” Inhofe told reporters. “The only difference of opinion that we have is, I don’t want it on this bill … because the Democrats will not appoint conferees” to draft a compromise.
Section 230 provides websites and social media sites broad protection from lawsuits while also allowing them to remove or moderate content.
Trump and other Republicans have grown increasingly critical of Section 230 in the wake of incidents involving the removal or editing of content posted by conservatives and the president.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, run by Republicans, summoned the CEOs of Facebook and Twitter prior to the election to explain why they blocked a New York Post story about an alleged trove of Hunter Biden emails that suggested the family corruptly cashes in on its relationship to Joe Biden.
Republicans accused the social media companies of utilizing their platforms to hurt Trump and help Biden.
“There is growing bipartisan concern with Big Tech and their abuse of power, and Section 230 is in serious need of reform,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican.
Republicans said on Wednesday that while they agree the shield law needs to be revised, the work should happen in the Senate Commerce Committee, not the Armed Services Committee.
They are also opposed to delaying passage of the bill, which authorizes spending levels and is critical for military planning.
“That’s probably a more appropriate place to do it,” Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, told the Washington Examiner. “Our military deserve to have authorization.”
The Warren provision has already garnered bipartisan support.
In a media call with reporters on Wednesday, Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said he would be “reluctant to put the bill on the floor” without it.
He called Trump’s reluctance to rename the bases “a racist position to take, an extraordinarily unfortunate position for the president’s take.”
But some polls show Trump sides with a majority of the public.
An ABC News-Ipsos poll taken in June found 56% opposed changing Confederate-named military bases, compared to 42% who backed making the changes.
Among those surveyed, 67% of black people and 54% of Hispanics supported renaming those bases.
