NASHVILLE - Tennessee Republican U.S. House members split Monday night on a vote overriding President Donald Trump's veto of a $740 billion defense policy bill.
Reps. Chuck Fleischmann of Ooltewah, Mark Green of Ashland City and David Kustoff of Memphis joined a number of fellow Republicans as well as most Democrats in voting to override the veto by Trump.
Also voting to override Trump were Tennessee Democrats Jim Cooper of Nashville and Steve Cohen of Memphis.
Voting no were Republicans Scott DesJarlais of Sherwood, Tim Burchett of Knoxville and John Rose of Cookeville. Rep. Phil Roe of Johnson City was listed as not having voted.
House members voted 322-87 to override the veto of the National Defense Authorization Act.
When vetoing the bill last week, Trump cited the measure's failure to include provisions lifting legal protections for social media companies. The president has charged the companies are biased against him and complained about their having blocked or put alerts that some of his tweets and Facebook postings contain false information regarding his claims he won the November presidential race with Democrat Joe Biden. Biden is expected to be inaugurated Jan. 20.
Fleischmann, a member of the House Appropriations Committee who usually has voted in line with the president, said in a statement that "I voted for the NDAA in early December and I voted once more today, in-line with my original vote, to support our brave men and women in uniform.
Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., speaks at a rally Tuesday, May 29, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)"While the bill is not perfect, I believe it includes many important measures that will benefit our nation's heroes who serve in our great military," Fleischmann added.
As he prepared to vote, Democrat Cohen tweeted "Trump vetoed the defense bill to defend the Confederacy. The bill scrubs #Confederate names from military bases, creates a Chief Diversity Officer, provides $2m for U of #Memphis, raises servicemember pay & expands parental leave to all civilians. I'll vote to override."
Green, who early on had been nominated by Trump as Army secretary but later withdrew amid a firestorm over past his past comments about Islam, evolution and gender issues, represents the Tennessee portion of the U.S. Army's Fort Campbell base. Provisions of the bill include a 3% pay increase for members of the armed services and expands civilian federal employees' access to paid leave benefits.
A total of 109 House Republicans, including Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia, voted for the defense funding bill, while 66 voted no.
The Republican-led Senate is expected to follow suit in approving the legislation.
The House on Monday also approved giving Americans $2,000 stimulus checks, after Trump said he might not sign the massive, $2.3 trillion coronavirus and government funding bill that provides taxpayers with $600 stimulus checks. But despite his misgivings, Trump signed the reief package into law Sunday night.
The bill passed in a 275-134 vote. It needed support from two-thirds of House members present. Cooper and Cohen voted for the bill. Burchett, DesJarlais, Fleischmann, Green, Kustoff and Rose voted no.
Fleischmann charged that Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "refused to include a reduction in wasteful spending, instead she introduced a bill that only adds to our national deficit and has a very slim chance of being taken up in the Senate."
He said he has been "talking to and listening to my constituents and I believe we can find better ways to deliver targeted relief to the American people. I have voted for several bipartisan COVID relief packages and will continue to look at options to support my constituents as we combat the COVID-19 pandemic."
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.