What word means to reject a bill?

The word that means to reject a bill, on the USCIS reading vocabulary list, is Veto. A veto is the formal power of an executive (such as the President or a state governor) to reject a bill passed by the legislature and prevent it from becoming law.

The President's veto power is granted by Article I, section 7 of the Constitution, which says that every bill passed by Congress "shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated." When the President vetoes a bill the entire bill is rejected; the United States has no line-item veto for federal legislation, although a 1996 federal law granting one was struck down in Clinton v. City of New York in 1998.

Congress can override a veto by passing the bill again with a two-thirds vote in each chamber, after which the bill becomes law without the President's signature. Veto overrides are rare; about 7 percent of regular vetoes have been overridden across U.S. history.

There is also the pocket veto: if the President does not sign a bill within ten days (excluding Sundays) and Congress has adjourned during that period, the bill does not become law and Congress cannot override it because no chamber is in session. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the most vetoes (635) of any President.

The word veto comes from the Latin meaning "I forbid," originally used by Roman tribunes to block legislation. On the reading test Veto may appear in a sentence such as "The President can veto a bill" or "What does veto mean?"