Senate Democrats Promise To Sustain President Obama’s Potential Veto Of NDAA

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Democrats allowed the NDAA to advance to a final vote, but Minority Leader Harry Reid is warning that Democrats will flip their votes and sustain any Obama veto of the NDAA.

The Senate voted to end debate on the defense funding bill, 73-26. The legislation is expected to be passed on Thursday, but President Obama has threatened to veto the bill, and Sen. Harry Reid warned Republicans that Democrats will sustain the President’s veto.

Reid said, “Our Democrats have stated without question if it comes time that we sustain a presidential veto, that will be done.”

There is much more at stake in this year’s NDAA than defense funding. President Obama wants the sequester cuts lifted. The nation still does not have a budget framework, and if Obama signs the GOP passed NDAA, he will be setting a precedent for the sequester cuts remaining in place for another year.

In June, the White House threatened that the President would veto any bill that is funded at sequester levels, “The President’s senior advisors would recommend that he veto S. 1558 and any other legislation that implements the current Republican budget framework, which blocks the investments needed for our economy to compete in the future.”

President Obama has criticized the NDAA for funding weapons systems that the Pentagon doesn’t want or need.

Senate Democrats have Obama’s back. If he decides to veto the NDAA, Democrats are going to vote to sustain his veto. If Obama is serious about eliminating the sequester cuts, he needs to veto the NDAA and force Republicans to lift the sequester.

Republicans should not be allowed to fund their favorite form of corporate welfare (the defense budget) while harming domestic programs with sequester cuts. The free ride needs to end for the GOP, which is why Democrats will stand with this president if he picks up his veto pen and rejects the NDAA.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association