During a session with donors last December, President Joe Biden said that he flashed his pen to Republicans, dangling his veto power in front of them.
Biden has since made good on this promise, vetoing two bills and threatening to issue more as the new GOP majority floats additional legislation.
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Most recently, on Monday, the White House confirmed that Biden intends to veto a bill floating in Congress to undercut his administration's solar tariff waiver. Congress has been unable to overturn any of his vetoes thus far.
Here is a look at Biden's vetoes so far and threats for more down the line.
First veto: Scrapping ESG rule
Biden's first veto came in March over a congressional bill to nix a Labor Department rule that would permit retirement plan managers to consider environmental, social, and governance factors, known as ESG, in investment decisions.
Centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT) had joined Republicans in backing the legislation. The White House argued the bill could handicap investors and retirees.
"It forces MAGA Republicans' ideology down the throats of the private sector and handcuffing investors as well. The bill would bar fiduciaries from considering significant risks like extreme climate threats and poor corporate governance when they make investment decisions," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said prior to the veto.
The legislation utilized power from the Congressional Review Act, which creates an avenue for Congress to overrule federal regulations via passage of a joint resolution.
Second veto: WOTUS rollback
Earlier this month, Biden again tapped into his veto authority to counter a bill that would undo his administration's "Waters of the United States" rule. The policy set a somewhat broader definition for the types of water bodies that fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.
That regulation has faced shifting definitions and decades of litigation. Five Democratic-aligned senators and nine House Democrats backed Republicans in the effort to overturn the rule. The concern from backers of the bill was that the water rule was too cumbersome for small farmers and builders.
Similar to the bill to scrap the ESG rule, the WOTUS legislation tapped into power from the Congressional Review Act.
Veto threat No. 1: D.C. police reform
Late last month, the White House made it clear that Biden would veto Republican-backed legislation to scrap reforms to policing in the nation's capital. The measure used power under the Home Rule Act, in which Congress can pass a resolution to overturn a district law.
Congress went on a two-week recess in April, so progress on the passage of the legislation stalled briefly. But shortly after Congress reconvened last week, the measure cleared the House with 14 Democrats joining 215 Republicans in backing it. The measure is expected to face an uphill battle in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The district's police accountability reform was enacted as a response to the 2020 death of George Floyd, which sparked national unrest. It banned the use of chokeholds and enacted other reforms intended to curb police brutality.
Veto threat No. 2: GOP energy bill
Perhaps the signature legislative achievement of the House GOP's first 100 days in control of the House was the passage of the Lower Energy Costs Act. The bill cleared the House in late March and aims to curtail energy costs with an array of reforms aimed at boosting domestic energy production.
But the Biden administration dissented, citing its potentially adverse effects on the environment.
“This Administration is making unprecedented progress in protecting America’s energy security and reducing energy costs for Americans – in their homes and at the pump. H.R. 1 would do just the opposite, replacing pro-consumer policies with a thinly veiled license to pollute," the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. "It would raise costs for American families by repealing household energy rebates."
So far, the bill appears to face headwinds in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Veto threat No. 3: Solar tariff waiver
Last June, the Biden administration waived tariffs on solar panels from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The goal was to ease supply chain constraints while his administration worked to bolster domestic production.
That move roiled domestic manufacturers, who have argued the tariffs are paramount to their competitiveness against cheap overseas competition. Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee advanced legislation to scrap the waiver, paving the way for a potential floor vote as soon as Wednesday.
“America is now on track to increase domestic solar panel manufacturing capacity eight-fold by the end of the President’s first term,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement Monday. “However, these investments will take time to ramp up production— which is why last spring, the President declared an emergency to ensure that Americans have access to reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.”
The legislation appears to have bipartisan support.
Empty veto threat: D.C. crime reform
Biden appeared to do a U-turn over Republican-backed legislation to upend a controversial Washington, D.C., crime law overhaul. In February, the White House asserted that Biden was opposed to that legislation. The measure weakened penalties for an assortment of crimes.
"For far too long, the more than 700,000 residents of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded," the administration said in a statement of policy declaring his opposition to the bill.
But as the law made its way through Congress, the White House later clarified that he did not intend to veto the bill. Republicans had seized on the issue seeking to cast Democrats as soft on crime.
"I support D.C. Statehood and home rule — but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings," Biden tweeted. "If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did — I’ll sign it."
Democratic allies, particularly in the House who voted against the bill and local officials, were seemingly caught off-guard by the apparent turnabout. The D.C. Council later withdrew the overhaul, and Biden never vetoed it.
The crime bill marked the first time in over three decades Congress wielded that power under the Home Rule Act to foil a D.C. law.
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Republicans haven't been shy about attempting to put bills on Biden's desk that he will veto, seeking to draw a contrast with him ahead of the 2024 elections.
Perhaps the most pronounced area of contrast between the two sides recently has been over the debt ceiling. Last week, McCarthy unveiled his demands for steep cuts in federal expenditures in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling. Biden publicly opposed the measure, but it remains unclear if it can even clear the House.