President Donald Trump suffered a stinging rebuke in the US Senate on Friday when fellow Republicans joined Democrats to override a presidential veto for the first time in his tenure, pushing through a defense policy bill he opposed just weeks before he leaves office.
Meeting in a rare New Year’s Day session, senators voted 81-13 to secure the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. Eight previous Trump vetoes had been upheld.
The last full session before a new Congress is sworn in on Sunday also ended for now a push by Democrats to increase COVID-19
financial relief checks from $600 to $2,000, a change sought by Trump. Senator Bernie Sanders again joined Democrats in a bid to force a vote on higher payments, only to be blocked by Republicans.
Republican lawmakers have largely stood by the president during his turbulent White House term.
Since losing his re-election bid in November, however, Trump has lashed out at them for not fully backing his unsupported claims of voter…
