The Pocket Veto: Its Current Status

Summary

The Constitution provides that any bill not returned by the President “within tenDays (Sundays excepted)” shall become law, “unless the Congress by theirAdjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.”  Thisinstrument of presidential power, known as the “pocket veto,” was first used in 1812by President James Madison.  Unlike the regular veto, which is subject to acongressional override, a pocket veto is “absolute” because it is not returned toCongress.Beginning in 1929, several judicial decisions attempted to clarify when anadjournment by Congress would “prevent” the President from returning a veto.Several cases during the Nixon administration appeared to restrict the pocket veto toa final adjournment of Congress at the end of the second session, and thatunderstanding was accepted by the Ford and Carter administrations.  Under thispolitical accommodation, Presidents would not use the pocket veto in the middle ofa session (intrasession vetoes) or between the first and the second sessions(intersession vetoes).  However, that agreement has not been followed by the Reagan, Bush, andClinton administrations.  President Ronald Reagan issued a pocket veto late in 1981and 1983 (at the end of the first sessions), and President George Bush also usedintersession pocket vetoes late in 1989 and 1991.  President Bill Clinton, in 2000,used three intrasession pocket vetoes.The pocket vetoes by Presidents Bush and Clinton were unusual in the sense thatthe vetoes were returned to Congress.  Evidently the inter- and intrasessionadjournments by Congress did not “prevent” the return of the vetoes.  If the Presidentreturned these “pocket vetoes,” could Congress attempt an override?  The answer isthat Congress several times has taken override votes on these types of pocket vetoes.Efforts to legislate the meaning of “adjournment” have thus far beenunsuccessful, nor has there been any definitive judicial ruling to clarify theconstitutional issue, although court rulings have established important parameters forthe pocket veto.  As a result, the scope of the pocket veto power has been left largelyto practice and to political understandings developed by the executive and legislativebranches.

source : http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30909.pdf 

I was thinking about this today, and I agree. But, I've also found an explanation. They say that the bill was not brought to the President until Oct. 6, 2006. That gave him until the 17th. The 6th is the day that's on the Congressional calendar as being the end of the session.