National Defense Authorization Act
As we noted last month, House Armed Services Committee (“HASC”) and Senate Armed Services Committee (“SASC”) staff had been conferencing the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), Congress’ annual defense policy bill, since mid-August. On November 18, 2020, the Senate and House began formal conference committee proceedings to resolve and reconcile the remaining major sticking points of the House and Senate versions of the bill.
On December 8, 2020, the House passed the reconciled version of the bill, otherwise known as the conference report, by a vote of 335-78. The Senate followed suit on December 11, 2020, passing the bill by a vote of 84-13. The President vetoed the bill on December 23, 2020 as was widely expected. The President had long threatened to veto the bill if it did not include a repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which prevents social media websites from being held liable for users’ comm