Obama vetoes first piece of legislation

HONOLULU (AP) - President Barack Obama has rejected his first piece of legislation from Congress, a stopgap spending bill that never had to take effect.

The White House on Wednesday said Obama exercised his right to send back to the Capitol a temporary appropriations bill that lawmakers passed in case a winter storm about two weeks ago would have prevented them from approving a final measure to fund the Pentagon next year. The Dec. 19 blizzard didn't keep them away from the Capitol and they approved the $626 billion defense spending bill before the previous budget expired.

The White House described the move as a technicality that the president took out of an abundance of caution, and that it was his first veto.