Veto, Pocket Veto, and Override

Part of the Bill Explainer plain-language guide to Congress · last reviewed September 18, 2026

Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution gives the President four possible responses to a bill that has been presented, and the fourth one depends on what Congress is doing at the time.

1. Sign it

The straightforward case. The bill becomes law on the date of signature unless its own text sets a different effective date, and it receives a public law number.

2. Return it with objections — a regular veto

The President returns the bill to the chamber where it originated, along with a written veto message stating the objections. You will see "Vetoed by President" followed by the message being received and, often, laid before the chamber or referred.

A veto is all-or-nothing for the measure as a whole. The President has no general authority to strike individual provisions; a line-item veto statute enacted in 1996 was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Clinton v. City of New York in 1998.

3. Do nothing while Congress is in session

If the President neither signs nor returns the bill within ten days, Sundays excepted, and Congress is in session, the bill becomes law without a signature. This is uncommon but not unheard of, and it usually signals that a President is unwilling to endorse a measure but also unwilling to block it. The action text reads "Became Law without Signature of the President."

4. Do nothing when Congress has adjourned — a pocket veto

The same inaction has the opposite effect if Congress's adjournment prevents the bill's return. In that situation the bill simply does not become law, and there is nothing for Congress to override, because a pocket veto is not returned to a chamber that is sitting.

Exactly when an adjournment "prevents return" has been contested between the political branches for decades, particularly for adjournments within a session rather than at the end of a Congress. It is an area where practice and legal interpretation have differed, and we deliberately do not try to resolve it here.

Overriding a veto

A returned veto goes back to the originating chamber, which may vote to pass the bill notwithstanding the President's objections. That requires two-thirds of members present and voting, a quorum being present, in that chamber — and then the same again in the second chamber.

Both are required. An override that succeeds in the House and falls short in the Senate leaves the veto standing and the bill dead. If both chambers reach two-thirds, the bill becomes law without the President's signature and receives a public law number in the ordinary way.

The action text is direct: "Passed House over veto" and "Passed Senate over veto," each with the roll call recorded.

Why overrides are rare

Two-thirds in both chambers is a very high bar, and it is a bar that a President's own party members are generally reluctant to help clear. Across American history the great majority of regular vetoes have been sustained. The Senate maintains a public tally of vetoes and overrides going back to 1789.

The practical consequence is that a credible veto threat shapes legislation long before any bill reaches the President's desk. Much of what looks like compromise during the drafting and negotiation stages is Congress accounting in advance for the arithmetic of an override it is unlikely to win.

Related explainers

Sources

These are the authoritative, nonpartisan references behind this explainer. All are free to the public, and all go into far more detail than we do.

• Regular Vetoes and Pocket Vetoes: In Brief (RS22188) — Congressional Research Service
• Veto Override Procedure in the House and Senate (RS22654) — Congressional Research Service
• Vetoes, 1789 to Present — U.S. Senate