What Happens If the President Vetoes a Bill?

If the President vetoes a bill, it is sent back to the chamber of Congress that first passed it, along with a written message explaining the objections, and it does not become law unless both the House and the Senate vote to override the veto by a two-thirds supermajority.¹ Overrides are rare. Out of roughly 2,600 presidential vetoes in American history, Congress has succeeded only 112 times.²

Where the Bill Goes Next

A regular veto sends the bill back to whichever chamber introduced it, together with the President’s written objections.³ That chamber records the objections in its official journal and then decides what to do. Three things can happen from there: members can attempt an override vote, they can negotiate changes that address the President’s concerns and try again with a revised bill, or they can let the legislation die.

The veto message itself matters. Presidents use it to frame their reasoning publicly and to signal what changes would make the bill acceptable, and it becomes part of the permanent legislative record. When Congress opts for the negotiation route, that message often functions as a roadmap for the next draft.

The Override Vote

The originating chamber votes first. If two-thirds of the members present and voting approve the override, the bill and the President’s objections move to the other chamber, which holds its own vote under the same two-thirds threshold.¹ Both chambers have to clear the bar independently. If either falls short, the override fails and the veto stands.

The Constitution requires that these votes be recorded by name. Every member’s “yea” or “nay” goes into the official journal, which creates full public accountability for the decision and distinguishes override votes from many routine congressional votes that don’t demand a recorded roll call.¹

If both chambers reach two-thirds, the bill becomes law without the President’s signature. The President has no further say once the override succeeds.⁴

What Happens if the Override Fails or Is Never Attempted

When an override vote fails in the originating chamber, the bill and veto message typically get referred to a committee and the other chamber never votes on it. If the override succeeds in the first chamber but fails in the second, that chamber notifies the first, and the bill is dead for that session.

Even if neither chamber attempts an override, a vetoed bill dies at the end of that Congress. It does not carry over. Members who still want the legislation enacted have to reintroduce it as a new bill and pass it through both chambers again from the beginning.

In practice, Congress often chooses a third path: revising the bill to address the President’s stated objections and sending back something the President will sign. The political dynamics matter here more than the procedure. A bill that passed with large margins but fell just short of a two-thirds override gives Congress real leverage to press for compromise.

The Pocket Veto

There is one situation where a vetoed bill cannot be overridden at all. If Congress sends the President a bill and then adjourns before the ten-day signing window expires, the President can kill it by doing nothing. With Congress out of session, there is no chamber to return the bill to, and it dies without any possibility of an override vote.⁵ This is called a pocket veto.

The Supreme Court confirmed the principle in the 1929 Pocket Veto Case, holding that when Congress adjourns and prevents a bill’s return, the bill simply fails to become law.⁶ If Congress wants the same legislation afterward, it has to reintroduce and pass the bill from scratch.⁵

Some legal ambiguity remains about which kinds of adjournment trigger a pocket veto. The Supreme Court has never definitively ruled on whether the pocket veto reaches short recesses within a session, as opposed to the final adjournment at the end of a Congress. The Department of Justice has taken the position that pocket vetoes remain valid during breaks between sessions of the same Congress, but the boundaries are still contested.

Why Overrides Are So Rare

Successful overrides happen in roughly four percent of vetoes.² Assembling a two-thirds majority in both chambers is an extraordinarily high bar, and the President’s own party typically holds enough seats in at least one chamber to block it.

The threat itself is arguably the veto’s most important function. The mere possibility of a veto shapes legislation long before a bill ever reaches the President’s desk. Congressional leaders routinely negotiate with the White House during drafting to avoid sending over a bill they know will be rejected. The vetoes that never happen shape more law than the ones that do.

The President Cannot Veto Only Part of a Bill

The veto is all-or-nothing. The President must accept or reject a bill in its entirety and cannot strike individual spending items or provisions while signing the rest. Congress tried to change this in 1996 with the Line Item Veto Act, and the Supreme Court struck the law down two years later in Clinton v. City of New York, ruling that it violated the Constitution’s Presentment Clause.⁷

The Court’s reasoning was straightforward: the Constitution prescribes exactly one way to make a law, and that process requires the President to approve or reject the entire bill as passed by Congress. Allowing selective cancellation would effectively let the President rewrite legislation after the fact.⁷ This limitation is why large bills sometimes include unrelated provisions individual members or the President dislike. Lawmakers know the President cannot surgically remove the add-ons without rejecting the whole package, which is real leverage during negotiations.

1
Constitution Annotated. Article I Section 7 Clause 2 – Role of President
2
U.S. House of Representatives. Presidential Vetoes
3
Government Publishing Office. Vetoes
4
National Archives and Records Administration. The Presidential Veto and Congressional Veto Override Process
5
Congress.gov. Constitution Annotated – ArtI.S7.C2.2 Veto Power
6
Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Pocket Veto Case, 279 US 655 (1929)
7
Justia. Clinton v City of New York