Republican Senators Warn Trump Not To Veto Defense Spending Bill, Promising Likely Override

Sen. Chuck Grassley on Tuesday warned President Trump that Congress likely would override any veto of the defense spending bill just because he opposes to renaming 10 Army bases named for Confederate generals.

Trump threatened the veto last week after a Senate committee approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act offered by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., requiring bases including Fort Bragg and Fort Robert E. Lee to be renamed amid a national rethinking about racial justice.

“If it came to overriding a veto, we’d probably override the veto,” Grassley, R-Iowa, told Iowa reporters in a conference call, The Hill confirmed.

Trump has used his veto power eight times, and each action was upheld.

The Senate bill currently calls for the bases to be renamed within three years and also calls for the removal of all “names, symbols, displays, monuments and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederate States of America ... or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America from all assets of the Department of Defense.”

The House Armed Services Committee has adopted its own version, calling for the names to be removed within a year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has urged Trump not to exercise his veto.

“Well, I would hope the president really wouldn't veto the bill over this issue,” McConnell said in a Fox News interview last week, adding, “I hope the president will reconsider vetoing the entire defense bill, which includes pay raises for our troops, over a provision in there that could lead to changing the names.”

Federal law provides for no line-item veto, so the president is precluded from vetoing just sections of the bill.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday has had trouble explaining Trump’s position.

Trump repeatedly has voiced support for white supremacists, most recently tweeting a video during which one of his supporters could be heard yelling, “White power.” The tweet was eventually removed.