Overnight Defense: Congress overrides Obama 9/11 veto | Pentagon breathes easy after funding deal | More troops heading to Iraq

by Rebecca Kheel - 09/28/16 6:24 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: The Pentagon and other federal agencies can breathe a sigh of relief – a government shutdown appears to have been averted.

The Senate passed a stopgap spending measure Wednesday afternoon, and the House is expected to follow suit later tonight.

{mosads}Few expected a government shutdown in an election year, but funding for the government was set to run out this weekend. For the Pentagon, that would have meant freezing troops’ pay and furloughing thousands of civilian defense employees.

But as the public slept Tuesday night, a deal was reached on the key issue holding up the bill: aid for the Flint, Mich., drinking water crisis.

The Hill’s Jordain Carney has the info on the Senate vote. Check back at the TheHill.com later tonight for updates on the House vote.

CONGRESS OVERRIDES PRESIDENT ON 9/11 BILL: A busy day on Capitol Hill also saw Congress handing President Obama his first veto override on a bill that will allow 9/11 victims’ families to sue Saudi Arabia.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of the CIA on Wednesday joined the president, the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee and the Defense secretary in warning about the bill’s potential consequences for U.S. troops, diplomats, intelligence officers and others abroad. But lawmakers were unswayed.

The Hill’s Katie Bo Williams and Cristina Marco have the story:

The Senate voted 97-1 in favor of the override, with only Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) voting to sustain the president’s veto.

Later, the House easily cleared the two-thirds threshold to push back against the veto. The final tally was 348-77, with 18 Republicans and 59 Democrats voting not to override the veto. Here’s a breakdown of the lawmakers who voted in the House to sustain Obama’s veto.

“We can no longer allow those who injure and kill Americans to hide behind legal loopholes denying justice to the victims of terror,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

The White House immediately lashed out at lawmakers following the Senate vote.

“I would venture to say that this is the single most embarrassing thing that the United States Senate has done, possibly, since 1983,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One, an apparent reference to a 95-0 vote to override President Reagan that year. Read more here.

After the vote, senators quickly began eyeing changes to the legislation, reports Jordain Carney.

A bipartisan group of senators indicated Wednesday that they remain concerned about potential retaliation against Americans.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said lawmakers need to make sure they didn’t open “Pandora’s box” and reassure Saudi Arabia that Congress isn’t “finding them guilty of 9/11.”

Graham, who supported the veto override, estimated that approximately 20 senators currently support changing the bill, something he thinks could happen as soon as the end-of-year lame-duck session.

Click here for more.

MORE TROOPS TO IRAQ: The Pentagon is getting ready to retake Mosul from ISIS by sending more than 600 extra U.S. troops to Iraq.

From The Hill’s Kristina Wong:

The Pentagon on Wednesday said it was deploying 615 additional U.S. forces to Iraq ahead of the fight to retake Mosul from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, bringing the official number authorized past 5,000.

“In anticipation of the Mosul fight, the United States and the government of Iraq have agreed that additional U.S. and coalition capabilities could help accelerate the campaign at this critical phase,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement.

“At the request of myself and [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford], and with the support and approval of [Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi], President Obama has authorized approximately 600 additional U.S. troops to further enable Iraqi forces,” he said.

The current number of U.S. troops officially authorized for Iraq is 4,647. The additional forces would bring that number to 5,262. There are at least hundreds more who are deployed temporarily that aren’t part of that official count.

Read the rest here.

END OF US-RUSSIA TALKS ON SYRIA?: The United States threatened to cut off talks with Russia over Syria if bombing in Aleppo does not stop and access to humanitarian aid is not made available, the State Department said Wednesday.

Secretary of State John Kerry issued the ultimatum in a phone call to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, department spokesman John Kirby said in a written statement.

“He informed the foreign minister that the United States is making preparations to suspend U.S.-Russia bilateral engagement on Syria – including on the establishment of the Joint Implementation Center – unless Russia takes immediate steps to end the assault on Aleppo and restore the cessation of hostilities,” Kirby said.

The situation in Aleppo has grown increasingly dire after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with Russia’s backing, launched a new offensive last week against rebel-held parts of Aleppo and reportedly carried out the fiercest bombing of the civil war to date.

Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.), longtime critics of the administration’s foreign policy who have been particularly critical of Kerry’s latest efforts, mocked the threat.

“We can only imagine that having heard the news, Vladimir Putin has called off his bear hunt and is rushing back to the Kremlin to call off Russian airstrikes on hospitals, schools and humanitarian aid convoys around Aleppo,” McCain and Graham said in a statement.

Read more of the State Department’s comments here and McCain and Graham’s here.

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW:

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on the Syria conflict and its regional impact at10 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 419. http://bit.ly/2dpULJi

ICYMI:

— The Hill: McCain comments won’t derail Bergdahl case

— The Hill: Senators already eyeing changes to 9/11 bill despite veto override

— The Hill: State official hints more Chinese firms being probed for N. Korean ties

— The Hill: Energy secretary: ‘We got it right’ on Iran deal

— The Hill: GOP senators ask watchdog to examine Gitmo site surveys spending

— Agence France-Presse: Spanish court jails ex-Guantanamo inmate

— Reuters: Warplanes knock out Aleppo hospitals as Russian-backed assault intensifies

— Defense News: Grouse about this: A funny-looking bird is holding up key national defense legislation

Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Rebecca Kheel, rkheel@digital-staging.thehill.com