I hope Republicans vote against very weak NDAA which I will veto: Trump

President Donald Trump threatened to "veto" the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) urging US House Republicans to vote against the "very weak" act as lawmakers scramble to pass the bill by year-end.

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The $740 billion annual bill governs everything from pay raises for US service members to how many aircraft and missiles should be purchased by the Pentagon among other measures linked to America's national security.

US lawmakers are set to vote on the bill on Tuesday. However, Trump has voiced his unhappiness over Section 230 which shields social media companies Facebook and Twitter from liability over what users post on their platforms.

The committee's Democratic chairman Adam Smith had said earlier that if Trump vetoed the NDAA, lawmakers would "come back to vote to override it." Both Houses are expected to pass the defence bill this week.

Trump had also demanded that lawmakers should remove language on renaming military bases that honour Civil War Confederate commanders.

Thornberry, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said: "The stronger the vote, the less chance of having to deal with a veto later, adding, "Section 230 needs to be addressed, but in a different place and a different way."

"Airdropping it at the last minute is not the right thing," Thornberry added. The bill appears to have bipartisan support with several Republicans ready to sign-up.

"For 59 straight years, the NDAA has passed because Members of Congress and presidents of both parties have set aside their own policy objectives and partisan preferences and put the needs of our military personnel and America’s security first. The time has come to do that again," Representatives Adam Smith, the House Armed Services Committee's Democratic chairman, and Mac Thornberry, the panel's ranking Republican, said in a joint statement.