As part of an effort to reduce wasteful spending by the federal government, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., Rep. Paul Ryan, D-Janesville, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced a plan to reintroduce the Congressional Accountability and Line-Item Veto bill at a press conference in Washington this morning.
The bill would grant the president power to veto specific items in a bill he does not agree with, rather than being forced to veto the entire bill as a result.
A similar bill was passed by Congress in the 1990s, but it was eventually declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because it authorized the president to enact federal laws not previously approved by both houses of Congress, as required by Article 1 of the Constitution.
However, according to Ryan spokesperson Conor Sweeney, the new bill does not violate the Constitution.
“The bill will respect and preserve Congress’ constitutional responsibilities by requiring that both the House and the Senate pass a rescission request before it can become law,” Sweeney said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. “If either the House or Senate votes against a recession by a simple majority, it is not enacted.”
According to a statement, Feingold, Ryan and McCain hope by giving the president the ability to veto only specific items in a bill the number of earmarks attached to legislation can be trimmed, thus reducing wasteful spending by the national government on programs designed to benefit only a few areas of the nation.
Even though the bill will be presented with bipartisan support, not all Republicans support the measure.
Kirsten Kukowski, spokesperson for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, acknowledged while the line item veto has the potential to save money, there could be unintentional consequences because of the proposal.
“[I]t must not be so broad that it’s abused by people like Gov. [Jim] Doyle, who actually increased spending that the Legislature never authorized,” Kukowski said in an e-mail. “The line item is especially important when Democrats in Congress are spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on pork projects when we should be stimulating the economy.”
