The U.S. Senate is headed toward a decision: Whether to defy President Trump and override his veto of the annual defense bill. Both of Alaska’s senators say they will.
“I plan to vote to override veto,” Sen. Dan Sullivan said.
Sullivan sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the panel that writes the National Defense Authorization Bill. He told reporters last week he’s been focused on building the military up.
“And we’ve made really good progress on that, so to be honest I was surprised by the president’s veto,” Sullivan said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski called the veto a “disservice” to military families and the nation.
The House voted to override on Monday, so if the Senate does the same, Congress will, for the first time, overturn a Trump veto.
RELATED: Young joins Democrats to nix Trump’s veto of defense bill
His veto puts Republicans in a difficult spot — torn between a must-pass bill for the military and their president.
The peril for a Republican to go against Trump was evident in a Facebook post from Alaska Congressman Don Young explaining why he voted for the override.
The post drew some 250 comments, many from angry Alaska Trump supporters, accusing him of betrayal. Some say they’ve voted for Young for decades but will never again.
Trump vetoed the defense bill over, among other things, a provision removing the names of confederate generals from military bases. He also wants the bill to allow legal action against social media companies for the content they publish.
The Senate voted 80-12 to consider the override, far more than the two-thirds they would needed to reinstate the bill, though this was just a procedural step. The final vote is expected New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
The override bill, like all pending bills, will expire on Jan. 3 when the current session of Congress ends.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
