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Veto Bargaining: Presidents and the Politics of Negative Power. By Charles M. Cameron. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 292p. $59.95 cloth, $18.95 paper.
Veto Bargaining is an important book and a pleasure to read. It is important because it takes us a long way in understanding presidential veto politics. The power of the veto is a foundation of the checks-and-balances system and the separation of powers, and it is surprising that so few data have been collected on it. This book is a pleasure to read because it provides a framework for understanding the many absorbing veto cases it includes. For example, Cameron shows that congressional uncertainty about the president's acceptable policy preferences can help the president wrest policy concessions from Congress. This helps us understand why Truman vetoed Republican tax cuts three times during the 80th Congress. By the time legislators found the right package to attract an override majority, the Truman vetoes had forced Congress to concede 15% off the cut for the wealthiest Americans.
Cameron frames veto bargaining within the context of separation of powers, which summons institutional battles over policy especially during divided government. The main tool at the...