President Johnson rejects the "Tenure of Office Bill" and the Congress over-rides his veto before the day is out.

At the start of the "lame duck" session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, U.S. Senator George Williams of Oregon introduced the Tenure of Office Act, a bill Republicans had crafted to limit the ability of President Johnson to dictate policy by removing officials from office without the consent of the legislative branch.  Both houses initially passed the measure before the end of the year but disagreement over the inclusion of certain officials, specifically members of the Cabinet, that the lower House stood firm upon, delayed the final passage of the bill in the Senate until February 18, 1867. The House agreed the next day and the bill went to the President. As expected, President Johnson rejected the bill but both chambers easily over-rode his veto on this the same day on a vote of 35 to 10 in the Senate and 138 to 51 in the House. The bill thus became what would be a very important law during the Fortieth Congress.  (By John Osborne).