The deal with a pocket veto is that the President has ten days to either sign or veto the bill – but a veto is really returning it to Congress, unsigned. Congress can then try to get enough votes to overturn the veto.
If he does nothing with it (sign it or return it to Congress) within 10 days, then that counts as having signed it, and the bill becomes law.
However, that last bit only applies if Congress was able to accept the returned bill that whole time. If the Congress had already adjourned, and could not accept the returned bill, then the bill does not become law.
However, in recent years it has been made clear that Congress never really fully adjourns until early January, but then immediately reestablishes itself, so it is never fully adjourned. Even while the House was not in session during the recent government shutdown, they held short mini-sessions to make sure that the body never actually formally adjourned. Furthermore, Congress has made arrangements to accept returned bills from the President even when they are not in session (but have not formally adjourned for the term). So Congress would have to go of its way to adjourn early for the pocket veto to work.
tldr: a pocket veto won’t work unless Congress shuts itself down.
The deal with a pocket veto is that the President has ten days to either sign or veto the bill – but a veto is really returning it to Congress, unsigned. Congress can then try to get enough votes to overturn the veto.
If he does nothing with it (sign it or return it to Congress) within 10 days, then that counts as having signed it, and the bill becomes law.
However, that last bit only applies if Congress was able to accept the returned bill that whole time. If the Congress had already adjourned, and could not accept the returned bill, then the bill does not become law.
However, in recent years it has been made clear that Congress never really fully adjourns until early January, but then immediately reestablishes itself, so it is never fully adjourned. Even while the House was not in session during the recent government shutdown, they held short mini-sessions to make sure that the body never actually formally adjourned. Furthermore, Congress has made arrangements to accept returned bills from the President even when they are not in session (but have not formally adjourned for the term). So Congress would have to go of its way to adjourn early for the pocket veto to work.
tldr: a pocket veto won’t work unless Congress shuts itself down.
Thanks for that insight. I wasn’t sure how the holiday factored into the interpretation.