President Bush on Friday vetoed a $6.4 billion bill that would have provided up to 20 additional weeks of unemployment benefits.
The administration has contended that the measure is unnecessary because the recession is over, even though Bush in recent days has expressed new concerns about the pace of the recovery.Bush vetoed the bill in the presence of Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, House Republican Leader Bob Michel of Illinois and Labor Secretary Lynn Martin.
Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Bush invited the congressional leaders to the White House to discuss prospects of getting a less-expensive measure through Congress.
Dole has proposed a bill that would extend unemployment benefits for up to 10 weeks at a cost of about $4 billion. In the past, the Senate has rejected such an approach.
Currently, unemployment benefits expire after 26 weeks.
Although Congress passed the extension by large margins, the Senate vote was two shy of that needed to override a presidential veto.
The Senate passed the bill 65 to 35. The House passed the measure 301-18.
To override a veto, two-thirds votes are required in both the House and the Senate.
It was Bush's 23rd veto. He has yet to have one overridden.
Democrats have seized on the unemployment issue as a top political priority.
The 20-week extension is similar to one signed last August by Bush. However, the president effectively killed the measure by refusing to take the necessary corresponding step of declaring a budget emergency to free up funds for the package.
The bill sent to his desk this time would automatically declare such an emergency.
The administration has claimed the measure would break a 1990 budget agreement between Congress and the White House because it doesn't offset the $6.4 billion price tag by proposing new revenues - as the agreement requires.