London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Dec 17, 2025

Congress Has Overridden A Trump Veto For The First Time In His Presidency

Congress Has Overridden A Trump Veto For The First Time In His Presidency

The defense spending bill passed with a veto-proof majority in both chambers of Congress, but Trump went ahead and vetoed it anyway.

The Senate has overridden President Donald Trump's veto of the defense spending bill in a 81-13 vote on Friday, just four days after the House did the same, delivering Trump a stinging snub as his presidential term comes to a close.

The Senate first voted 80-12 to limit debate on the president's veto, quickly advancing to the final vote which required a two-thirds majority to overturn the veto. With bipartisan support, the final vote easily surpassed that threshold.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which increases salaries for soldiers, allocates more benefits to Vietnam War veterans, and expands hazardous duty incentive pay, has historically had an easy passage through Congress and has been signed into law every year for decades.

The bill landed on the president's desk this year with a veto-proof majority in both chambers of Congress. But it was quickly rejected by Trump, who had been threatening a veto for months if the bill did not repeal Section 230, a provision in the Communications Decency Act that protects social media platforms from being held liable for what users post on their websites.

Trump has tried to undo Section 230 ever since social media websites began labeling his posts for misinformation, and has attempted to do so both through his executive power and the Department of Justice.

He has claimed that the provision allows platforms like Twitter and Facebook — which have been slow and tepid in their response to hate speech and Trump's lies about election fraud — to censor conservatives like him.

"Section 230 facilitates the spread of foreign disinformation online, which is a serious threat to our national security and election integrity," he said in a statement issued after his veto.

The 2021 NDAA does not mention Section 230, and Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike have pointed out that it is irrelevant to legislation on military spending.

Trump on Friday called the Senate's vote to override his veto "pathetic."

"Our Republican Senate just missed the opportunity to get rid of Section 230, which gives unlimited power to Big Tech companies," he tweeted.


Trump also said he opposed language in the bill that would remove Confederate leaders' names from military bases, describing it as a "politically motivated" attempt to "wash away history."

He continued to criticize the bill through Christmas weekend, railing against "weak and tired Republican 'leadership'" and calling the NDAA "A disgraceful act of cowardice and total submission by weak people to Big Tech" on Tuesday.


The measure includes the most substantial revision to anti–money laundering laws since the Patriot Act in 2001. The legislation will require secretive American shell companies to disclose who owns them and who profits from them — one of the many systemic problems identified in the FinCEN Files, a global investigation by BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The stories — based on more than 2,000 sensitive financial documents — exposed the myriad ways that banks fail to stanch the flow of dirty money and how ineffective the US government is in holding bankers accountable.

After years of inaction, public officials cited the BuzzFeed News–ICIJ Investigation as a reason the reforms finally gained traction. Sen. Ron Wyden said “sustained public interest certainly helped get these provisions across the finish line.”

“The BuzzFeed story makes clear we need to strengthen, reform, and update our nation’s anti–money laundering laws,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.

The vote overriding Trump's veto is the first time congressional Republicans' legislative support for the president has cracked.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Issues Final Ultimatum to Roman Abramovich Over £2.5bn Chelsea Sale Funds for Ukraine
Rare Pink Fog Sweeps Across Parts of the UK as Met Office Warns of Poor Visibility
UK Police Pledge ‘More Assertive’ Enforcement to Tackle Antisemitism at Protests
UK Police Warn They Will Arrest Protesters Chanting ‘Globalise the Intifada’
Trump Files $10 Billion Defamation Lawsuit Against BBC as Broadcaster Pledges Legal Defence
UK Says U.S. Tech Deal Talks Still Active Despite Washington’s Suspension of Prosperity Pact
UK Mortgage Rules to Give Greater Flexibility to Borrowers With Irregular Incomes
UK Treasury Moves to Position Britain as Leading Global Hub for Crypto Firms
U.S. Freezes £31 Billion Tech Prosperity Deal With Britain Amid Trade Dispute
Prince Harry and Meghan’s Potential UK Return Gains New Momentum Amid Security Review and Royal Dialogue
Zelensky Opens High-Stakes Peace Talks in Berlin with Trump Envoy and European Leaders
Historical Reflections on Press Freedom Emerge Amid Debate Over Trump’s Media Policies
UK Boosts Protection for Jewish Communities After Sydney Hanukkah Attack
UK Government Declines to Comment After ICC Prosecutor Alleges Britain Threatened to Defund Court Over Israel Arrest Warrant
Apple Shutters All Retail Stores in the United Kingdom Under New National COVID-19 Lockdown
US–UK Technology Partnership Strains as Key Trade Disagreements Emerge
UK Police Confirm No Further Action Over Allegation That Andrew Asked Bodyguard to Investigate Virginia Giuffre
Giuffre Family Expresses Deep Disappointment as UK Police Decline New Inquiry Into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Claims
Transatlantic Trade Ambitions Hit a Snag as UK–US Deal Faces Emerging Challenges
Ex-ICC Prosecutor Alleges UK Threatened to Withdraw Funding Over Netanyahu Arrest Warrant Bid
UK Disciplinary Tribunal Clears Carter-Ruck Lawyer of Misconduct in OneCoin Case
‘Pink Ladies’ Emerge as Prominent Face of UK Anti-Immigration Protests
Nigel Farage Says Reform UK Has Become Britain’s Largest Party as Labour Membership Falls Sharply
Google DeepMind and UK Government Launch First Automated AI Lab to Accelerate Scientific Discovery
UK Economy Falters Ahead of Budget as Growth Contracts and Confidence Wanes
Australia Approves Increased Foreign Stake in Strategic Defence Shipbuilder
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson proclaims, “For Ukraine, surrendering their land would be a nightmare.”
Microsoft Challenges £2.1 Billion UK Cloud Licensing Lawsuit at Competition Tribunal
Fake Doctor in Uttar Pradesh Accused of Killing Woman After Performing YouTube-Based Surgery
Hackers Are Hiding Malware in Open-Source Tools and IDE Extensions
Traveling to USA? Homeland Security moving toward requiring foreign travelers to share social media history
UK Officials Push Back at Trump Saying European Leaders ‘Talk Too Much’ About Ukraine
UK Warns of Escalating Cyber Assault Linked to Putin’s State-Backed Operations
UK Consumer Spending Falters in November as Households Hold Back Ahead of Budget
UK Orders Fresh Review of Prince Harry’s Security Status After Formal Request
U.S. Authorises Nvidia to Sell H200 AI Chips to China Under Security Controls
Trump in Direct Assault: European Leaders Are Weak, Immigration a Disaster. Russia Is Strong and Big — and Will Win
"App recommendation" or disguised advertisement? ChatGPT Premium users are furious
"The Great Filtering": Australia Blocks Hundreds of Thousands of Minors From Social Networks
Mark Zuckerberg Pulls Back From Metaverse After $70 Billion Loss as Meta Shifts Priorities to AI
Nvidia CEO Says U.S. Data-Center Builds Take Years while China ‘Builds a Hospital in a Weekend’
Indian Airports in Turmoil as IndiGo Cancels Over a Thousand Flights, Stranding Thousands
Hollywood Industry on Edge as Netflix Secures Near-$60 Bln Loan for Warner Bros Takeover
Drugs and Assassinations: The Connection Between the Italian Mafia and Football Ultras
Hollywood megadeal: Netflix acquires Warner Bros. Discovery for 83 billion dollars
The Disregard for a Europe ‘in Danger of Erasure,’ the Shift Toward Russia: Trump’s Strategic Policy Document
Two and a Half Weeks After the Major Outage: A Cloudflare Malfunction Brings Down Multiple Sites
UK data-regulator demands urgent clarity on racial bias in police facial-recognition systems
Labour Uses Biscuits to Explain UK Debt — MPs Lean Into Social Media to Reach New Audiences
German President Lays Wreath at Coventry as UK-Germany Reaffirm Unity Against Russia’s Threat
×