Although they have scheduled floor action Tuesday “disposing of” President Bush’s veto of a massive defense authorization bill, House Democratic leaders haven’t decided just what that action will be.

Bush stunned lawmakers of both parties Dec. 28 when he issued a “Memorandum of Disapproval” asserting that he was pocket-vetoing the fiscal 2008 defense bill over a provision that the White House said could provoke a flood of litigation and lead to a freeze of Iraqi assets held in the United States.

Knowing that Congress would dispute his right to exercise a pocket veto when the Senate was holding pro forma sessions every few days and both chambers had arranged to receive messages from the president, Bush also returned the bill to the House — just as he would with a normal veto.

Now House leaders must decide whether they’ll try to override his veto, if only to underscore their constitutional claim that he can use a pocket veto only between one two-year Congress and the next — not between sessions of the same Congress, as here.

Republican leaders have refused to discuss the constitutional dispute. Instead they are urging their members to vote against any override attempt.

With or without a floor vote on an override, Bush’s veto is expected to stand. And lawmakers from both parties will work to fix the provision he objected to and clear a new defense bill after the Senate returns next week.