Presidential Veto

The Presidential Veto is the final stage of the legislative process for Bills from Congress.

Once a Bill has completed the legislative process through Congress it arrives at the White House for Presidential Action. Typically, the President would sign a bill into law at a signing ceremony.

However, a President could choose to veto the bill instead. By doing this, the Bill is killed off and doesn’t become law. By doing this the bill is sent back to Congress. Congress could, however, attempt to override the veto. This can only be done if the two-thirds of each chamber of Congress vote to override.

Presidents may veto bills if it doesn’t fit with their ideological agenda. Presidents may also threaten to veto a bill in an attempt to dissuade Congress from passing the legislation in the first place.

Notable Vetoes

Clinton – Partial-Birth Abortion Bill Veto 1996

Bush – Stem Cell Research 2006

Bush – Withdrawal from Iraq 2007

Pockets and Lines

There are different types of veto that have existed and still exist in US Politics. The first is a Pocket Veto. This arises from a rule of the legislative process whereby a bill that is not signed, after 10 days will automatically become law. However, should a President not sign a bill and there are less than 10 days before the end of a Congressional Session, the bill will die. This is called a Pocket Veto.

Another type of veto which has existed was known as a Line Item Veto. This allowed the President to veto specific parts of the bill rather than the entire bill. Forty-four states have given their Governors this power. However, the President used to have this power form 1996, yet in 1998 the Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v City of New York that this power was unconstitutional.

Vetoes in Numbers
Since George Washington, there have been 1498 regular vetoes, 1067 pocket vetoes and 110 vetoes have been overridden. Below is information for the last four Presidents

Barack Obama

Vetoes: 4

Pocket Vetoes: 0

Vetoes Overridden: 0

George W Bush

Vetoes: 11

Pocket Vetoes: 1

Vetoes Overridden: 4

Bill Clinton

Vetoes: 36

Pocket Vetoes: 1

Vetoes Overridden: 2

George H W Bush

Vetoes: 29

Pocket Vetoes: 15

Vetoes Overridden: 1