Top Republican on Armed Services: House will try to override a Trump veto of defense bill

House Armed Services ranking member Mac Thornberry said Monday that President Trump is "serious" about vetoing the defense authorization bill if it doesn't include elimination of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

The Texas Republican also told reporters that the House would attempt to override a veto from the president.

"I think the president really believes it. He is very upset at social media companies, in particular, and the results of the election have poured fuel on the flames. So I don't believe that it's empty. I know he's serious about it," said Thornberry, who is serving his last term in the House, during a press briefing. 

"But I also believe that most of my colleagues think this is not the place or the way to address that issue. I mentioned before you've got Republicans and Democrats, House, Senate who think it should be addressed," he added. "But an airdrop, you know, in the last week or two of the session is not the way."

Section 230 of the law protects social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter from liability when posting third-party content. However, such platforms continue to exert control of the content by censuring some of it.

Trump has also said that he would veto the bill if it includes a plan to rename military bases named after generals in the Confederacy.

The final version of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 comes in at more than 4,500 pages and totals $740.5 billion.

It is expected to be voted on in the House and Senate this week. It does not include elimination of Section 230 and requires the secretary of Defense to implement a plan submitted by a commission to "remove all names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederate States of America." 

Thornberry said he reached out to the "committees of jurisdiction" to see if there is something that could be done that everybody agrees on regarding Section 230.

"Man, opinions are all over the board about what needs to happen. It is a complex subject with lots of consequences," he said. "So I don't think it's empty, but I'm hopeful that a strong vote can persuade the White House that there's a better approach to deal with that issue, so that you're not punishing the troops for something that is totally unrelated."

Thornberry said the House vote on the bill is expected on Tuesday.

"We've got to take this one step at a time. The first step is going to be House vote tomorrow, hopefully that's strong. Next time will be a Senate vote as soon as possible, hopefully, and then we'll go through these mechanics of getting the bill down to the White House and like you say, the time limits and so forth," he said. "Depending on what the president does, we'll take it from there."

Thornberry said he's not sure what the final outcome is going to be at this time.

"I'm feeling pretty good," he said. "Other than a couple senators running for president, which we all need to take with a grain of salt, I don't know anybody who is saying, 'yeah, this is the time and the way to deal with liability of social media companies.' That's a pretty hard case to make."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said there would be enough votes to successfully override a presidential veto.