White House Threatens to Veto $733 Billion Military Spending Bill

Officials unhappy with lack of funding for tactical nukes, limits on Gitmo

While the House continues to add amendments to their $733 billion military spending bill, aimed at limiting the administration from making unilateral foreign policy moves, the White House is now “strongly objecting” to it.

White House officials issued a statement warning that if the House version was what was submitted to them for the military spending bill, President Trump would veto it. That would be a serious challenge to Congress exercising limits on the foreign policy.

In particular, the House bill forbids transfers of new detainees to Guantanamo Bay, and provides no funding for tactical nuclear weapons. The White House objects to both, but can Trump just veto around it?

That’s less clear. While Trump has vetoed other legislation on foreign policy, a spending bill still needs to ultimately be passed, and this would be a battle of who blinks first, or if Congress can override a veto outright.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.