VETO MESSAGE

By the terms of the Constitution, if the President does not approve the bill ‘‘he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it’’.

A bill returned with the President’s objections, need not be voted on at once when laid before the House since the vetoed bill can be postponed, referred back to committee, or tabled before the question on passage is pending. A vetoed bill is always privileged until directly voted upon, and a motion to take it from the table or from committee is in order at any time. Once the relevant Member moves the previous question on the question of override, the question is then put by the Speaker as follows: ‘‘Will the House on reconsideration agree to pass the bill, the objections of the President to the contrary notwithstanding?’’ Under the Constitution, a vote by the yeas and nays is required to pass a bill over the President’s veto. The Clerk activates the electronic system or calls the roll with those in favor of passing the bill answering ‘‘Aye’’, and those opposed ‘‘No’’.

If fewer than two-thirds of the Members present vote in the affirmative, a quorum being present, the bill is rejected, and a message is sent to the Senate advising that body of the House action. However, if two-thirds vote in the affirmative, the bill is sent with the President’s objections to the Senate, unless that body has acted first, together with a message advising it of the action in the House.

The procedure in the Senate is the same as a two-thirds affirmative vote is also necessary to pass the bill over the President’s objections. If the Senate joins the House and votes two-thirds in the affirmative to pass the bill, the measure becomes the law of the land notwithstanding the objections of the President, and it is ready for publication as a binding statute.

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