White House adviser Karl Rove is a keen student of history, thus a group of editors were surprised when he flubbed a routine question about presidential veto authority in a recent meeting with The Post’s editorial board.
Rove had just predicted Bush would issue his first-ever veto if a bill authorizing expanded stem-cell research reaches his desk as expected. Asked in passing if it would be a regular veto or a “pocket veto,” Rove said presidents don’t have the latter authority, which he said is reserved for governors.
Actually, presidents do have a pocket veto. The term refers to vetoes made within the 10-day period allowed by the Constitution for such action but after Congress has adjourned. Ignoring legislation, figuratively “putting a bill in one’s pocket” until Congress adjourns, is thus called a pocket veto.
History buff or not, Rove’s miscue is understandable because his boss has allowed the presidential veto power to atrophy. President Bush has cast no vetoes in six years in office, signing a never-ending series of budget-busting bills as the federal deficit has soared to unprecedented heights.
Rove said the president hasn’t had to veto any of these spending bills because Congress has always held spending within White House targets.
Now that’s really scary.
How bad are the Bush deficits?
Well, last week, the president celebrated a new projection that the deficit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 would be only $296 billion. By any sane standard, that’s a staggering amount of new debt in just one year. But even that dreadful number ignores a $180 billion surplus in the Social Security trust fund this year, money diverted into the current budget when perhaps it should be set aside to pay benefits in the tough years ahead. When current income and current expenses are tallied, Bush is really spending $476 billion more than he takes in this year.
Instead of using his first veto to hamper stem-cell research, Bush should follow Ike’s example. President Eisenhower routinely vetoed budget-busting bills, including water projects, price supports to farmers and subsidies to lead and zinc producers. He twice vetoed large omnibus housing bills.
The Post supports a line-item veto as crafted by Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and supported by President Bush. But we have to wonder if Bush will make use of that fairly limited power when he has failed to use the mighty weapons already at his command to enforce fiscal responsibility.
