The National Defense Authorization Act is the annual act of Congress that has supported the men and women who wear our nation’s uniform for 59 consecutive years. It’s one of the few healthy outposts of bipartisanship remaining in a hyper-polarized Washington. This year, however, at the last second, President Trump has threatened to hijack that process only hours away from completion because of his personal grudge against Twitter — which has no relevance to a defense bill.

Initially, President Trump vowed to veto the bill to protect the names of Confederate generals on U.S. military installations, but his supporters in the Senate convinced him this was a lost cause. Suddenly, last week, his beef with Twitter flared up as a reason to block enactment of this measure, which authorizes hazardous duty payments for our active-duty troops in harm’s way, bonus incentives for specialized staff in military hospitals and cyber operations, care and compensation for veterans, and support for military spouses and families across the U.S. On Tuesday, the House stoutly resisted this threat and passed the bill 355-78, well above the two-thirds majority necessary for a veto override.

Locally, the 2021 defense act provides important support for shipbuilding and eastern Connecticut manufacturing. As chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee, myself and my subcommittee members made sure to restore a Virginia-class submarine that was cut in the president’s budget last February, provided early funding for construction of the new Columbia-class program, and authorized an upgrade for the Connecticut Air National Guard’s C-130 cargo planes.

Once signed into law, the bipartisan 2021 NDAA would immediately trigger an across-the-board 3% pay increase for all U.S. servicemembers. As part of my committee work, I’ve met with service members at home and in Washington, and I haven’t spoken to a single one who can figure out what the liability laws surrounding social media companies has to do with their paycheck or our nation’s national defense.

We wrote into this year’s defense act new language to increase hazardous duty pay for service members serving in parts of the world with the threat of imminent danger, and new provisions that require DOD to take major steps to upgrade and maintain housing for military families both at home and overseas. One of the most important parts of the 2021 NDAA for military families is our new language on childcare — this year’s bipartisan bill authorizes childcare payments for each child of a member of the Armed Forces.

The defense act doesn’t stop there. The final bill includes new benefits for Vietnam Veterans impacted by Agent Orange. Thousands of Vietnam Veterans came into contact with this toxic chemical during their service, and for decades they’ve been denied the care and compensation they deserve. Our bipartisan NDAA bill mandates that the VA expand their list of covered illnesses that qualify for long-overdue health care benefits and compensation.

If President Trump fails to sign the NDAA into law, all of these provisions would be delayed or derailed — along with many others. Each year, the NDAA authorizes a multitude of bonus incentives for our troops that enable enlistment, re-enlistment, and critical skill retention, which are in high demand in the civilian economy. Without the defense act, the military services would lose the ability to provide these bonuses, which we know will disrupt military medical care and cyber security, just to name a few critical professions.

This year, Republicans and Democrats worked across the aisle in the middle of a global pandemic to hammer out the 2021 NDAA. We wrote this bill together the old-fashioned way: in committee, and in a bipartisan, bicameral Conference Report that the House and Senate will send to the White House for signature with strong bipartisan support. As Senator Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) — a staunch supporter of the president who we know in Groton from his visit a few years ago to the U.S.S. North Dakota christening — spoke out against the veto threat, pointing to the nearly 1,300 provisions it contains that are critical to our nation.

Pay raises for our soldiers, fairness for Vietnam veterans, support for military families, child care for our troops — these are a few examples of what’s being put at risk when the president recklessly issues veto threats. A non-germane squabble with social media companies isn’t worth risking the bipartisan achievements we‘ve secured for our troops and industrial base in this year’s NDAA.

Congress is moving ahead to finish the job for the 60th year in a row, and to deliver this bill to the president’s desk with overwhelming bipartisan support. Once it’s there, he has no genuine excuse to not sign it.

Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat, represents eastern Connecticut's Second District.