U.S. President Barack Obama speaks while hosting a community discussion on drug addiction during a visit to Charleston, West Virginia October 21, 2015.

President Barack Obama officially vetoed the $612 billion defense bill on Thursday, sending the legislation back to Congress because of the way it uses money meant for war spending to avoid automatic budget cuts to military programs.

"I'm going to be sending it back to Congress and my message to them is very simple: 'Let's do this right,'" Obama told reporters.

"We're in the midst of budget discussions. Let's have a budget that properly funds our national security as well as economic security," he said.