http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0323bush-vetoes0323.html

Bush's veto pen just collecting dust

USA Today Mar. 23, 2006 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - President Bush today becomes the longest-sitting president since Thomas Jefferson not to exercise his veto, surpassing James Monroe.

Monroe was in office 1,888 days before he vetoed his first bill on May 4, 1822, a measure that would have imposed a toll on Cumberland Road, the first federal highway and the key route to the West. Jefferson never exercised his veto.

Thursday is Bush's 1,889th day in office, and no veto is in sight. So far, Congress has sent him 1,091 bills. He has signed them all.

He came close to a veto last month when Congress threatened to block a deal to turn over operations at ports in six states to a company owned by Arab emirate Dubai.

Bush threatened a veto, but Congress had the votes to override him. He avoided a showdown when the company decided to sell that part of its business to American interests.

"After that, we're not likely to hear a veto threat from him that much again," said G. Calvin Mackenzie, professor of government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.