President George W. Bush vetoed a total of 12 bills during his two terms in the White House, according to congressional records. Most of the vetoes he issued were over spending concerns. The number of Bush vetoes is among the lowest of any modern president.
Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, for example, vetoed three times as many bills as Bush. Even Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, issued 29 vetoes during his one term in the White House, according to congressional records.
Related Story:Learn About the Bush Dynasty
Only President Barack Obama issued fewer vetoes during two terms in office, at four. Until Obama, Bush had set the record for the fewest number of vetoes over two centuries.
When both chambers of Congress – the House of Representative and the Senate – pass a bill, the legislation goes to the president's desk for signature into law. If the president favors the law, he'll sign in. If the bill is important enough, the president often uses numerous pens while writing his signature.
Read More:How the Presidential Veto Process Works
Once the bill arrives on the president's desk, he has 10 days to either sign it or reject it. If the president does nothing the bill becomes law in most cases. If the president vetoes the bill, he often returns it to Congress with an explanation for his opposition.
Related Story:What's a Line Item Veto?
So which bills did George W. Bush veto? Here's a list of all 12, starting with six of the most important or controversial vetoes issued by the president.
Bush first used his veto power to shoot down a measure that would allowed for research using human embryonic stem cells. Bush, influenced by religious conservatives in the Republican Party, expressed opposition to using taxpayer money to, as his administration put it, "support and encourage the destruction of human life for research."
Bush banned such research in 2001.
This legislation, a bill authorizing additional spending, would have set a timeline for removing troops from Iraq, something the Bush administration with vehemently to. So Bush vetoed it and a similar bill without the timeline passed.
This was the second bill aimed at allowing human embryonic stem cell research vetoed by Bush. "This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others. It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So I vetoed it," Bush said at the time.
Bush's second veto reinforced his administration's opposition to stem-cell research.
Bush issued a veto against the expansion of the federal Children's Health Insurance Program in a controversial move critics said was "denying health care to millions of low-income kids in America." But the dispute with Congress was over the cost and size of the program.
Supports of the expansion wanted to spend $35 billion more, which would have allowed 4 million additional children into the program. Bush went as far as supporting an additional $5 billion, saying anything larger would have been a move toward socialized medicine.
Bush earned the wrath of the hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast, which would have benefited from this bill allowing for $23 billion in spending on water resource projects. Bush said the bill spent too much money.
“This bill lacks fiscal discipline,” he said. “This authorization bill makes promises to local communities that the Congress does not have a track record of keeping. The bill’s excessive authorization for over 900 projects and programs exacerbates the massive backlog of ongoing corps construction projects, which will require an additional $38 billion in future appropriations to complete.”
Both the House and Senate overrode Bush's veto.
Bush vetoed this bill because it would have banned an interrogation technique known as waterboarding, which was used extensively against terrorism suspects following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States orchestrated by Osama bin Laden.
"We need to ensure our intelligence officials have all the tools they need to stop the terrorists," Bush said at the time. "This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe."
Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, for example, vetoed three times as many bills as Bush. Even Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, issued 29 vetoes during his one term in the White House, according to congressional records.
Related Story:Learn About the Bush Dynasty
Only President Barack Obama issued fewer vetoes during two terms in office, at four. Until Obama, Bush had set the record for the fewest number of vetoes over two centuries.
How a Veto Works
When both chambers of Congress – the House of Representative and the Senate – pass a bill, the legislation goes to the president's desk for signature into law. If the president favors the law, he'll sign in. If the bill is important enough, the president often uses numerous pens while writing his signature.
Read More:How the Presidential Veto Process Works
Once the bill arrives on the president's desk, he has 10 days to either sign it or reject it. If the president does nothing the bill becomes law in most cases. If the president vetoes the bill, he often returns it to Congress with an explanation for his opposition.
Related Story:What's a Line Item Veto?
So which bills did George W. Bush veto? Here's a list of all 12, starting with six of the most important or controversial vetoes issued by the president.
•Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005
Bush first used his veto power to shoot down a measure that would allowed for research using human embryonic stem cells. Bush, influenced by religious conservatives in the Republican Party, expressed opposition to using taxpayer money to, as his administration put it, "support and encourage the destruction of human life for research."
Bush banned such research in 2001.
•US Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability
This legislation, a bill authorizing additional spending, would have set a timeline for removing troops from Iraq, something the Bush administration with vehemently to. So Bush vetoed it and a similar bill without the timeline passed.
•Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007
This was the second bill aimed at allowing human embryonic stem cell research vetoed by Bush. "This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others. It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So I vetoed it," Bush said at the time.
Bush's second veto reinforced his administration's opposition to stem-cell research.
•Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007
Bush issued a veto against the expansion of the federal Children's Health Insurance Program in a controversial move critics said was "denying health care to millions of low-income kids in America." But the dispute with Congress was over the cost and size of the program.
Supports of the expansion wanted to spend $35 billion more, which would have allowed 4 million additional children into the program. Bush went as far as supporting an additional $5 billion, saying anything larger would have been a move toward socialized medicine.
•Water Resources Development Act of 2007
Bush earned the wrath of the hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast, which would have benefited from this bill allowing for $23 billion in spending on water resource projects. Bush said the bill spent too much money.
“This bill lacks fiscal discipline,” he said. “This authorization bill makes promises to local communities that the Congress does not have a track record of keeping. The bill’s excessive authorization for over 900 projects and programs exacerbates the massive backlog of ongoing corps construction projects, which will require an additional $38 billion in future appropriations to complete.”
Both the House and Senate overrode Bush's veto.
•Intelligence Authorization Act of 2008
Bush vetoed this bill because it would have banned an interrogation technique known as waterboarding, which was used extensively against terrorism suspects following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States orchestrated by Osama bin Laden.
"We need to ensure our intelligence officials have all the tools they need to stop the terrorists," Bush said at the time. "This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe."
Here are seven other bills vetoed by Bush
–Appropriations: Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, 2008–Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007–National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008–Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008–Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008–Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008[Edited by Tom Murse]
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