A non-issue for years, vetoes now on congressional radar

http://thehill.com/business--lobby/a-non-issue-for-years-vetoes-now-on-congressional-radar-2007-06-28.html

A non-issue for years, vetoes now on congressional radar
By Jeffrey Young
June 28, 2007

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Congress first prevailed on a veto override vote in 1845, when both chambers overwhelmingly rebuffed President Tyler’s veto of a shipping bill. Congress had its highest rate of success against President Ford: Lawmakers overrode 12 of his 48 vetoes.

Prolonged stand-offs between the executive and legislative branches can be politically exhausting and logistically troublesome.

Even if congressional leaders know they don’t have the votes to defy the president, they sometimes stage a vote anyway.

Last year, the House Republican leadership held the override vote just hours after the president vetoed the stem cell bill, hoping to dispatch an issue that politically favored Democrats during an election year.

This year, the Senate Democratic leadership is expected to hold a vote on the president’s second stem cell veto, if only to demonstrate again that more than 60 senators disagree with Bush.

By contrast, Congress responded to Bush’s veto of the Iraq and Afghanistan spending bill this year by going back to the drawing board.

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