Veto

Moving Massachusetts into the world of casinos is a major part of Governor Deval Patrick's legacy. With so much at stake for the state, and his own reputation on the line, the governor should do all he can to instill public confidence in those who play any role in policing the Bay State's fledgling gambling industry. Instead, Patrick is doing his curious best to undermine public confidence. Last week, he vetoed portions of a spending bill sent to him by the House and Senate, which would have required the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to conduct full criminal...

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff used a line-item veto Friday to send back parts of a congressional bill that loosened the nation's benchmark law protecting the Amazon rainforest — a veto the government said would prevent increased deforestation. Environmentalists were not satisfied because they had called for a veto of the entire bill, known as the Forest Code, saying any weakening of the law would put the world's largest rainforest at risk. Government officials said the partial veto went far enough to keep Brazil on track in its efforts to quell the destruction of the Amazon...

BAGHDAD - An Iraqi vice president signaled yesterday that he would again veto an election law in a dispute that a senior election official said was certain to delay a national vote scheduled for January. Iraq’s constitution says the balloting must happen in January, and a delay will deepen uncertainty in a nation struggling to recover from years of war. Few predict a return to the intense violence that shattered Iraq, but profound mistrust among factions has made it hard for its democratic institutions to flourish.

Moving Massachusetts into the world of casinos is a major part of Governor Deval Patrick's legacy. With so much at stake for the state, and his own reputation on the line, the governor should do all he can to instill public confidence in those who play any role in policing the Bay State's fledgling gambling industry. Instead, Patrick is doing his curious best to undermine public confidence. Last week, he vetoed portions of a spending bill sent to him by the House and Senate, which would have required the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to conduct full criminal...

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is expected to announce he'll veto three bills that ease gun regulations. Lynch and law enforcement officials are holding a news conference Tuesday to urge the House to kill the bills. Lynch is expected to promise he will veto the bills if they reach his desk. If the House passes them, they would go to the Senate. One strips colleges of their ability to prohibit guns on campuses. A second eliminates the need for a license to carry concealed loaded weapons.

Outraged advocates for the elderly and disabled yesterday joined several legislators in vowing to salvage a program that reserves a nursing home resident's bed during brief hospitalizations or visits to family. Governor Deval Patrick surprised many Thursday when he signed a $169 million supplemental budget but vetoed $6 million within that spending plan needed to run the nursing home "bed hold" program. It is the only veto Patrick made. Bed holds are now scheduled to end Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Still smarting from the partisan wars of 2007, Congress confronts a sinking economy, a lingering war, and election-year politics as it gets back to work for the 2008 session. The Democratic-led House reconvenes today with the familiar scenario of having to deal with a President Bush veto. The White House objected to one provision in a massive defense bill that opened the way for lawsuits against the Iraqi government. The defense bill contains an additional pay raise for the military and Congress is expected to quickly fix the problem, either...

WASHINGTON -- The House voted to expand governmentfinanced embryonic stem-cell research yesterday, but for the second time in two years lawmakers were unable to muster enough votes to overcome a promised presidential veto. Still, the 253-to-174 vote was a high-water mark in the stem-cell debate, drawing advocates closer to the two-thirds vote threshold needed to override President Bush's objections. With stem cells offering hope for major healthcare cures, lawmakers on both sides of the issue punctuated the debate with poignant personal stories and clashed over...

WASHINGTON - Watch what they do, not what they say. When President Bush promised to veto Democrats' homeowner rescue bill, it may have sounded as though the measure was dead. But in a competitive election year clouded by a crippled economy, Republicans are as anxious as Democrats to strike a deal on an issue that matters to their constituents. By threatening to veto the legislation, Bush gained leverage in what promises to be a high-stakes negotiation between the White House and congressional Democrats on a compromise.

Liechtenstein's royal family has indicated it would veto the results of any referendum that removed the prince's power to veto the results of referendums. Pro-democracy campaigners in the tiny Alpine principality announced this week that they will seek signatures for a referendum on whether to remove the power of veto. The royal family said in a statement on its website late Thursday that it was "astonished" by the move. It says it already rejected a similar proposal in 2003.

House Republicans are revising their proposal to renew the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, but not enough to satisfy President Barack Obama and other Democrats intent on preserving their lead among female voters in this volatile election year. In a veto message hours before lawmakers were to vote, the White House said the GOP-written bill doesn't go far enough to protect battered illegal immigrants, Native Americans or gays. The GOP proposals, which differ from the Senate-passed version, "take direct aim at immigrant victims of domestic violence and sexual assault," and...

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed legislation Monday that would have had the state join Utah in demanding that the federal government surrender control of millions of acres of public land. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed similar states' rights legislation in March despite warnings from legislative attorneys that the law was probably unconstitutional. Supporters of the Arizona legislation argued that the states would be better managers of resources such as timber and minerals on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land...

Governor Deval Patrick vetoed Friday portions of a spending bill sent to him this week by the House and Senate requiring the Gaming Commission to conduct full criminal background checks and drug screenings on future employees. A day after it arrived on his desk, Patrick signed a $72 million midyear spending bill that included additional funding for public assistance for low-income disabled residents, family shelters, legal aid, and youth jobs accounts that were in danger of running out of money before the fiscal year ends on June...

The White House says President Barack Obama would veto a Republican budget bill that swaps cuts to domestic programs like food stamps for cuts scheduled to hit the Pentagon and domestic agencies alike in January. The GOP-dominated House is scheduled to vote on the measure Thursday. The White House says that Congress should instead work with him to produce a larger deficit-cutting package blending new tax revenues with cuts across the federal budget. That's unlikely before the election.

Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday vetoed legislation that would set up a state health insurance exchange as part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, saying the state shouldn't rush to enact such a law and possibly create new burdens on taxpayers while the constitutionality of the federal act remains to be decided. "Because it is not known whether the Affordable Care Act will remain, in whole or in part, it would be imprudent for New Jersey to create an exchange at this moment in time before critical threshold issues are decided with finality by...

Regarding the so-called leash law for cats that was proposed in Concord, this is not the first time such an idea has been put forth. I teach Advanced Placement English at Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, and many years ago the AP test included Governor Adlai E. Stevenson's veto of the Illinois Senate Bill No. 93, "An Act to Provide Protection to Insectivorous Birds by Restraining Cats," as an example of rhetorical excellence. I think Stevenson's words are still pertinent.

The White House is threatening to veto Republican legislation that would place greater limits on how the federal government adopts regulations. The Republican-controlled House is set to vote on two bills that would require agencies to consider alternative regulations based on their costs and benefits and to limit the costs new regulations would place on small businesses. A statement issued Tuesday by the Office of Management and Budget says presidential advisers would recommend President Barack Obama veto both bills if they pass Congress.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio lawmakers approved legislation that would let residents carry concealed weapons, but Governor Bob Taft said yesterday he would veto it. The bill, passed by wide margins in the House and Senate on Wednesday, would allow Ohio residents to carry concealed weapons after passing a background check and completing safety training. Taft, a Republican, promised a veto after unsuccessfully pushing to give reporters access to all names of permit holders by county.

WASHINGTON - The House approved a Republican-backed plan Friday to keep subsidized student loan interest rates lower for another year, but the White House vowed to veto the bill because it would pay for the extension by taking money from a preventive care fund set up in President Obama's health-care overhaul law. The disagreement has sparked an election-year fight about an otherwise uncontroversial issue as lawmakers leave this weekend for...

WASHINGTON - The House ignored Obama administration objections Thursday and approved legislation aimed at helping stop electronic attacks on critical US infrastructure and private companies. On a bipartisan vote of 248-168, the Republican-controlled House backed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which would encourage companies and the federal government to share information collected on the Internet to prevent electronic attacks from cyber criminals, foreign governments, and terrorists.