George Bush photo

Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 849 - Pocket Veto

September 24, 1990

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

(House Rules)
(Derrick (D) South Carolina)

If H.R. 849 is presented to the President in its current form, his senior advisers will recommend a veto because H.R. 849 is unconstitutional.

The bill's reading of the Pocket Veto Clause is incorrect and inconsistent with the only Supreme Court case on the subject. Pocket Veto Case. 279 U. S. 655 (1929).

The bill would have no legal effect, because it cannot change the meaning of the Constitution, and thus would represent simply a statement of Congress' views. Congress is free to express this position through a concurrent resolution or an amicus brief in an appropriate case.

Passage of the bill would create a needless conflict between the political branches, because it would ask the President to endorse a legal position with which he disagrees.

George Bush, Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 849 - Pocket Veto Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/328827

Simple Search of Our Archives