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To the editor:

Regarding Hayes Brown’s June 25 opinion article, “Trump turns Congress’ housing boom bill into a bust”: I read this article hoping it would point out that the bipartisan housing bill passed by both the Senate and the House with overwhelming margins does not need the president’s signature to become law. I could find no mention. Did I miss something?

If an enacted measure is presented to the president and the president has not signed or vetoed it in 10 days, the measure becomes law without the president’s signature. If the president does veto the measure, a two-thirds vote from both the Senate and the House can override the president’s veto, and the measure will become law. The president gets only one bite at the apple.

Somehow, in all the press coverage of this important matter, the limitations on the president’s role in the legislative process have been ignored.

Thank you for your otherwise excellent reporting.

— Tom Brown
Alexandria, Virginia

MS NOW’s Hayes Brown replies

Thanks for reading! And that’s fair. I considered adding that point, but I had seen an additional detail while writing: The bill hadn’t been sent to the president yet, so that 10-day clock hadn’t started. And trying to explain the intricacies of the timeline felt like too much to unpack without going too deep into the weeds.

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The post Don’t forget this constraint on the president’s reaction to the housing bill appeared first on MS NOW.

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