1. PRESIDENT AND
POWER OF VETO
A power vested in the President by
which he may return a bill to
Congress unsigned with the reason
for his objection.
Congress may override a
presidential veto with a 2/3 vote in
both houses
Article I,
Sec VII

2. Congress then has 3 choices...
 Put right the ‘wrongs’ and
return for signature – very
unlikely
 Attempt to override –
demanding and rarely
achieved
 Realise they don’t have the
votes, do nothing and accept
the President has won – most
likely

3. Clinton and the veto
 Used regular veto 36 times
 Congress attempted to override on
13 occasions
 Succeed on 2
 So, Clinton won on 34 out of 36
occasions when he vetoed
legislation
 2 that were overriden: Securities bill
(1995), and Military Construction
Appropriations bill (1998)

4. Jimmy Carter and the veto
 Used veto 13 times
against a Democrat-
controlled Congress
 2 occasions they override
his veto: Oil Import Fee
bill (1980), and Veteran’s
Health Care bill (1980)

5. Bush and the veto
 Became first President in 150
years to go through an entire
4 year term without using a
veto
 2006 days before issuing his
first veto in 2006
 Suffered first override in 2007
on Water Resources
Development bill
 Then suffered three more
defeats in 2008 leaving him
with the lowest success score
of any modern day President

6. Overall
 In 220 years presidents
have used 1500 regular
vetoes
 Only 110 have been
overriden by Congress
 That is a success rate of
93%!