The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved the National Defense Authorization Act that calls for renaming military bases that honor Confederate officers.
Trump has threatened to veto the bill, but the Senate passed it with a 86-14 vote, which is more than enough to override a veto. The House has already passed a similar bill, worth $741 billion.
Both bills would authorize a 3% pay increase for military service members.
Among the 10 Army bases that would be changed include Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas and Fort Benning in Georgia.
While Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy were reportedly open to the idea, overturning a presidential veto is not foolproof. Lawmakers could flip their votes to retain a veto.
In an interview with Chris Wallace last weekend Trump said, “We won two world wars, two world wars, beautiful world wars that were vicious and horrible, and we won them out of Fort Bragg, we won out of all of these forts that now they want to throw those names away.”
See NPR