Why are presidential vetoes rarely overridden

The veto becomes effective when the President fails to sign a bill after Congress has adjourned and is unable to override the veto. 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.

President James Madison was the first President to use the pocket veto in Polk 2 1 Grant 45 48 93 4 45th—46th Rutherford B.

Hayes 12 1 13 1 47th James A. Arthur 4 8 12 1 49th—50th Grover Cleveland 2 51st—52nd Benjamin Harrison 19 25 44 1 53rd—54th Grover Cleveland 42 5 55th—57th William McKinley 6 36 Taft 30 9 39 1 63rd—66th Woodrow Wilson 33 11 44 6 67th Warren G. Harding 5 1 Hoover 21 16 37 3 73rd—79th Franklin D. Roosevelt 9 79th—82nd Harry S. Truman 70 12 83rd—86th Dwight D. Eisenhower 73 2 87th—88th John F. Kennedy 12 9 Johnson 16 14 Nixon 26 17 43 7 93rd—94th Gerald R.

Summary of Bills Vetoed Additional information about veto power and procedure can be found on the Vetoes page. Trump 10 0 10 1 Barack Obama 12 0 12 1 George W.

Bush 12 0 12 4 William J. Clinton 36 1 37 2 George H. Bush 1 29 15 44 1 Ronald Reagan 2 39 39 78 9 Jimmy Carter 13 18 31 2 Gerald R. Ford 48 18 66 12 Richard M. Nixon 26 17 43 7 Lyndon B.

Johnson 16 14 30 0 John F. Kennedy 12 9 21 0 Dwight D. Eisenhower 73 2 Harry S. Truman 70 12 Franklin D. Roosevelt 9 Herbert Hoover 21 16 37 3 Calvin Coolidge 20 30 50 4 Warren G. Harding 67 5 1 6 0 Woodrow Wilson 33 11 44 6 William H. Taft 30 9 39 1 Theodore Roosevelt 42 40 82 1 William McKinley 6 36 42 0 Grover Cleveland 42 5 Benjamin Harrison 19 25 44 1 Grover Cleveland 2 Chester A. Arthur 4 8 12 1 James A. Garfield 47 0 0 0 0 Rutherford B.

Hayes 12 1 13 1 Ulysses S. Grant 3 45 48 93 4 Andrew Johnson 21 8 29 15 Abraham Lincoln 2 5 7 0 James Buchanan 4 3 7 0 Franklin Pierce 9 0 9 5 Millard Fillmore 0 0 0 0 Zachary Taylor 31 0 0 0 0 James K. Polk 2 1 3 0 John Tyler 6 4 10 1 William H. Adams 0 0 0 0 James Monroe 1 0 1 0 James Madison 5 2 7 0 Thomas Jefferson 0 0 0 0 John Adams 0 0 0 0 George Washington 2 0 2 0 Total 4 1. The power of the President to refuse to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevent its enactment into law is the veto.

The president has ten days excluding Sundays to sign a bill passed by Congress. A regular veto occurs when the President returns the legislation to the house in which it originated, usually with a message explaining the rationale for the veto.

This veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.