A pocket veto occurs when the president takes no action during that period and an adjournment prevents return. Because no bill is returned, Congress cannot override that pocket veto; it must begin again with new legislation. The pocket veto is not simply any veto issued near the end of a session. The factual question is whether the adjournment actually prevented constitutional return. The president also lacks a federal line-item veto and cannot cancel selected provisions after signing.

The veto matters before presentment as well as after it. A credible threat can cause legislators to remove a provision, bargain over spending, or assemble an override coalition. That early influence is persuasion backed by a formal power. It does not let the president amend the pending bill directly.

If a question says the president objects to one section, ask what happened next. Returning the whole bill invokes a regular veto; signing it enacts the whole bill; doing nothing may produce enactment or a pocket veto depending on time and adjournment. A signing statement cannot substitute for the line-item veto the Constitution does not provide.

Video lesson: Presidential Power: Crash Course Government and Politics #11