The Senate passed the $ 740 billion budget on Friday, despite “objections” from the 45th President of the United States. The House of Representatives did the same on Monday. The text is therefore definitively adopted.
Le Monde avec AFP
The American Congress imposed, Friday 1 st sup> January, an unprecedented humiliation to Donald Trump by bypassing, by a very large majority, his veto on the defense budget.
The Senate, controlled by the Republicans, adopted with more than two-thirds of the vote (the necessary threshold) this budget of 740 billion dollars (about 600 billion euros), despite “the objections of the president”. As the House of Representatives, with a Democratic majority, had done the same, Monday, December 28, the text is definitively adopted.
The result of long negotiations, this budget was adopted in early December with overwhelming majorities by the House, with a Democratic majority, and the Senate, controlled by Republicans. In particular, it provides for a 3% increase in the salary of defense personnel.
Donald Trump announced on 23 December, that he vetoed it, causing consternation even in his camp. The American president criticizes the text in particular, in addition to being, according to him, too favorable to China, to open the possibility of renaming military bases honoring Confederate generals, who fought in defense of slavery during the war. of Secession (1861-1865). He also justified his opposition by the fact that the text did not include the abolition of a law, known as “article 230”, protecting the legal status of social networks, which he accuses of being biased against him. .
This is the ninth time the 45th th President of the United States has vetoed a law. Congress has so far never gathered enough votes to override it.