Veto Power: Can It Stop Issue 2?

The President of the United States has the power to veto any bill that has passed both chambers of Congress, which can be overturned by Congress with a 2/3 majority. This is known as a pocket veto and can only occur after a session of Congress has adjourned. The President can also issue a regular veto by declining to sign a bill, which can be overridden by Congress with a simple majority. Once a bill becomes law, the President has no authority to repeal it.

The US President's veto power

The President has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to act on legislation, or it automatically becomes law. If the President does not veto or sign a bill within this time, it becomes law. This prevents the President from killing legislation through inaction. There are two types of vetoes: the "regular veto" and the "pocket veto".

A regular veto is when the President returns a bill to the originating House of Congress within 10 days, usually with a memorandum of disapproval or a "veto message". Congress can override this by a two-thirds vote of each House.

A pocket veto occurs when Congress has adjourned before the 10 days are up, preventing a possible return with a veto. In this case, the President does not return the legislation to Congress but simply does not act, and the bill does not become law. The pocket veto cannot be overridden by Congress.

The authority of the pocket veto is derived from the Constitution's Article I, Section 7, which states, "the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case, it shall not be law". Over time, Congress and the President have clashed over the use of the pocket veto, debating the term "adjournment". The President has attempted to use the pocket veto during intra- and inter-session adjournments, but Congress has denied this use. The Legislative Branch, backed by modern court rulings, asserts that the Executive Branch may only pocket veto legislation when Congress has adjourned sine die from a session.

The first presidential veto was exercised by President George Washington in 1792, who vetoed a bill outlining a new apportionment formula. The veto power continued to be very rarely used until the presidency of Andrew Jackson, who vetoed 12 bills. Congress first overrode a presidential veto on March 3, 1845, during the presidency of John Tyler.

Veto override by Congress

The US Constitution grants the President the authority to veto legislation passed by Congress. This authority is one of the most significant tools the President can employ to prevent the passage of legislation. The President has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to act on legislation, after which it automatically becomes law.

There are two types of vetoes: the "regular veto" and the "pocket veto". In the case of a regular veto, the President returns the unsigned legislation to the originating house of Congress within 10 days, usually with a memorandum of disapproval or a "veto message". Congress can override the President's decision if it musters the necessary two-thirds vote of each house.

However, the "pocket veto" is an absolute veto that cannot be overridden. It occurs when the President fails to sign a bill after Congress has adjourned and is unable to override the veto. The authority of the pocket veto is derived from the Constitution's Article I, Section 7, which states, "the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case, it shall not be law."

Over time, there has been controversy and debate between Congress and the President over the use of the pocket veto, specifically regarding the interpretation of the term "adjournment". While Congress has asserted that the Executive Branch may only use the pocket veto when Congress has adjourned sine die from a session, Presidents have attempted to use it during intra- and inter-session adjournments.

Pocket veto

A pocket veto is a legislative manoeuvre that allows the president to prevent a bill from becoming law without having to formally veto it. In the United States, if the president does not sign a bill within 10 days of its passage by Congress, it automatically becomes law. However, if Congress adjourns within this 10-day period and the president does not sign, the bill is automatically vetoed—this is a pocket veto.

The pocket veto is a unique form of presidential power that has been used by many US presidents throughout history. James Madison was the first president to use the pocket veto in 1812. Franklin D. Roosevelt had the highest number of pocket vetoes—during his presidency from 1933 to 1945, he vetoed 635 bills, 263 of which were pocket vetoes. All presidents after Roosevelt until George W. Bush had pocket vetoes while they were in office; the most after Roosevelt was Dwight D. Eisenhower, with 108. Since the George W. Bush presidency, no president has used the pocket veto.

The pocket veto is a controversial power, as it allows the president to effectively veto a bill without providing a reason for doing so. This can be seen as a way for the president to avoid taking a public stance on an issue, or as a way to circumvent the legislative process. In the 20th century, controversy arose over the meaning of the word "adjournment" and the possibility for a pocket veto. Did this refer only to adjournment between Congresses ("adjournment sine die") or between sessions, or did it refer to any break (e.g. a "recess") that might occur at the end of the 10-day period for a president to act on legislation?

To address this controversy, Congress can now provide for an "appropriate officer" to receive a president's veto message, and the opportunity for prompt consideration of an override vote. Presidents may still assert a pocket veto but must accompany it with a message setting forth their objections, so that there is no confusion as to whether the legislation was vetoed or should have automatically become law.

Line-item veto

The line-item veto, also known as the partial veto, is a type of veto power that allows a chief executive to reject specific provisions of a bill without vetoing the entire bill. This means that the president can strike down individual items within an appropriation, revenue, or tariff bill while allowing the rest of the bill to become law.

In the United States, the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 granted the president the power to veto specific items in spending bills to control "pork barrel spending". However, in 1998, the US Supreme Court ruled this act to be unconstitutional in a 6-3 decision in Clinton v. City of New York. The court found that the line-item veto was equivalent to a unilateral amendment or repeal of only parts of statutes and thus violated the Presentment Clause of the US Constitution. Despite this ruling, the prospect of granting the US president a line-item veto has occasionally resurfaced in Congress through proposed constitutional amendments or differently worded bills.

Prior to the 1998 ruling, President Clinton exercised the line-item veto 82 times on the federal budget. In 2006, President George W. Bush also sought to reinstate the line-item veto power by proposing the Legislative Line-Item Veto Act of 2006. More recently, on February 8, 2012, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would have granted the president a limited line-item veto, but the bill was not considered by the US Senate.

While the US president does not currently have an official line-item veto power, it is important to note that the president can still exert significant influence over the legislative process through other means, such as through signing statements or by refusing to spend funds allocated by Congress. Additionally, forty-four states give their governors some form of line-item veto power, allowing them to reject specific provisions of bills enacted by their state legislatures.

Legislative veto

A legislative veto is a provision that allows a congressional resolution to nullify a rulemaking or other action taken by an executive agency. This can be done by a majority vote of Congress without the signature of the President. The legislative veto was prominent in the field of administrative law and constitutional law.

The legislative veto was a feature of dozens of statutes enacted by the United States federal government between approximately 1930 and 1980. It was first authorized by the Legislative Appropriations Act in 1932 and was furthered by the necessities of providing for national security and foreign affairs before and during World War II. The legislative veto took several forms. Some laws established a veto procedure that required a simple resolution passed by a majority vote of one chamber of Congress. Other laws required a concurrent resolution passed by both the House and the Senate. Some statutes made the veto process more challenging by requiring a majority vote of the membership of the legislative body, present or not. Some designated neither the House nor the Senate but authorized one or more Congressional committees to exercise the veto on behalf of Congress.

The legislative veto was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in INS v. Chadha (1983). The Court held that a legislative veto on the part of one chamber of the legislature was unconstitutional as it violated the principle of bicameralism embodied in Article I, Section 1 and Section 7, and the presentment provisions of Clauses 2 and 3 of Section 7. The Court's analysis of the presentment issue stated that a provision for a two-chamber veto, though complying with bicameralism, and a provision for veto by a Congressional committee, suffer the same constitutional infirmity.

The President can exercise the veto power to prevent a bill from becoming law, but once a bill becomes law, the President has no authority to repeal it. If the President fails to sign a bill within ten days of enactment (excepting Sundays) while Congress is in session, the bill becomes law automatically. If Congress approves a bill and sends it to the President, and then adjourns before the ten days elapse, the President cannot return the bill to the originating Chamber after adjournment. This is called a "pocket veto".

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