Veto Quotes

• If a tax hike makes it to my desk, I'll veto it in less time than it takes Vanna White to turn the letters V-E-T-O!

  Ronald Reagan

  White, Letters, Desks

  Speech regarding planned Democratic tax hikes, as quoted in "WASHINGTON TALK; Eliot Ness to Vanna White", New York Times, www.nytimes.com. July 16, 1987.

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• The veto is a President's Constitutional right, given to him by the drafters of the Constitution because they wanted it as a checkagainst irresponsible Congressional action. The veto forces Congress to take another look at legislation that has been passed. I think this is a responsible tool for a president of the United States, and I have sought to use it responsibly.

  Gerald R. Ford

  Thinking, President, Looks

  Jimmy Carter, United States. Congress. House. Committee on House Administration, Gerald R. Ford (1978). “The Presidential campaign, 1976”

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• It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

  Andrew Jackson

  Powerful, Selfish, Patriotic

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Lets build a monument for the veto. Lets build a monument for impotence and incapacity.

  Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

  Incapacity, Monument, Impotence

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  There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.

  Andrew Jackson

  Patriotic, Government, Evil

  Veto Message on Bank Bill, 10 July 1832

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• There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.

  Andrew Jackson

  Rain, 4th Of July, Blessing

  Veto Message on Bank Bill, 10 July 1832

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• 'I haven't used the veto pen very often since I've been in office,' Obama told NPR. 'Now, I suspect there are going to be some times where I've got to pull that pen out. And I'm going to defend gains that we've made in healthcare; I'm going to defend gains that we've made on the environment and clean air and clean water.'

  Byron York

  Npr, Air, Water

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• It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals.

  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

  Appreciate, Approval, States

  "Profile: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad". www.aljazeera.com. June 19, 2005.

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• The first pork-barrel bill that crosses my desk, I'm going to veto it and make the authors of those pork-barrel items famous all over America.

  John McCain

  America, Pork, Bills

  California Republican debate transcript, www.nbcnews.com. May 3, 2007.

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• My hand seemed arrested by a silent veto.

  Winston Churchill

  Hands, Silent, Difficulty

  Winston Churchill (2012). “Churchill: The Power of Words”, p.141, Da Capo Press

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• Every man is equally entitled to protection by law. But when the laws undertake to add... artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges—to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful— the humble members of society—the farmers, mechanics, and laborers, who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.

  Andrew Jackson

  Powerful, Mean, Humble

  Veto Message on Bank Bill, 10 July 1832

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• Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions.

  Andrew Jackson

  Talent, Wealth, Institutions

  Andrew Jackson (1835). “Annual messages, veto messages, protest, &c. of Andrew Jackson, President of the United States”, p.244

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• Take the veto. Bush is the first president since James Garfield in 1881 not to veto a single bill. Garfield only had six months in office; Bush has had over four years.

  Jim Cooper

  Years, Office, President

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• By their own admission, leaders of the Republican Revolution of 1994 think their greatest mistake was overlooking the power of the veto. They gave the impression they were somehow in charge when they weren't.

  Mitch McConnell

  Mistake, Thinking, Leader

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• Using the right of veto would be shooting the Americans in the back.

  Dominique de Villepin

  Would Be, Shooting

  "Chirac 'believes veto would not stop US'" by Jon Henley, www.theguardian.com. March 5, 2003.

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• The news today that Bush has vowed to veto any legislation that reviews the security implications of the Dubai Port World's potential management of our ports is ludicrous and the entire Democratic Party is calling him to task for it.

  John Conyers

  Party, Dubai, Tasks

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• There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision.

  Barbara Jordan

  Order, Law, People

  1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, delivered 12 July 1976, New York, NY

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• If the British government is prepared to say that the Unionists will not have a veto over British government policy and that guns, vetoes and injustices will all be left outside the door, then there is no good reason why talks cannot take place in an appropriate atmosphere.

  Martin McGuinness

  Gun, Government, Doors

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• And if you remember the other part of the context is we were then all deceived about the French position and told the French had said they'd veto any second resolution - which wasn't true, we now know.

  Clare Short

  Remember, Resolution, Said

  "Today" with John Humphrys, www.theguardian.com. February 26, 2004.

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• They called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget.

  Jeb Bush

  Lines, Corleone, Items

  Jeb Bush at Republican presidential primary debate in Cleveland, Ohio, www.cbsnews.com. August 7, 2015.

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• The whole principle (censorship) is wrong; it's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't eat steak.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Baby, Men, Principles

  Robert A. Heinlein (2013). “The Man Who Sold the Moon and Orphans of the Sky”, p.206, Baen Publishing Enterprises

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• How anybody expects a man to stay in business with every two-bit wowser in the country claiming a veto over what we can say and can't say and what we can show and what we can't show - it's enough to make you throw up. The whole principle is wrong; it's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't eat steak.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Country, Baby, Men

  "The Man Who Sold the Moon" by Robert A. Heinlein, (p. 188), 1950.

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• The power given by the Constitution to the Executive to interpose his veto is a high conservative power; but in my opinion it should never be exercised except in cases of clear violation of the Constitution, or manifest haste and want of due consideration by Congress.

  Zachary Taylor

  Haste, Want, Conservative

  Zachary Taylor, S. HORN (1848). “All the Letters of Major General Z. Taylor: Anecdotes of rough and ready: Songs of Old Zach's Campaigns, etc. [Edited by] S. Horn”, p.10

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• I will veto every single beer, um, bill with earmarks.

  John McCain

  Beer, Bills, Earmarks

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• The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven.

  C. S. Lewis

  Inspirational, Religious, Self

  C. S. Lewis (1984). “The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C. S. Lewis”, p.141, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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