Senate Set To Vote To Advance NDAA With Trump Veto Looming

Senators have voted to advance the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed earlier by the House by a margin of 84 to 13, meaning the final bill is due to be voted on at 1230ET (1730GMT, 1830CET).

• In the likely event the NDAA is passed it will next pass to the desk of President Donald Trump for ratification.
• This follows a vote in the House on 9 Dec that approved the bill by 335 to 78 votes.
• The NDAA is worth USD740bn and ensures military spending is maintained over the course of the coming 12 months.
• Usually the passage and enactment of the NDAA is a pro forma affair. However, Trump has stated that he may veto the legislation due to his opposition to Section 230 of the bill. Section 230 provides liability protection for digital information providers and was added to the NDAA in 1996. It states "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider," and in effect means that unlike in traditional media, where a publisher can be sued for libel, on social media the platform cannot be held liable, only the original author/poster.
• Trump has long vented against social media platforms and has tweeted, "For purposes of National Security, Section 230 must be immediately terminated!!!"
• In the event of a veto, it is likely that Congress could override the measure, with the 335-78 margin in the House and 84-13 (if replicated in the final vote) in the Senate well over the two-thirds majority required to override a presidential veto.