Dana Rohrabacher: “the President's veto power is granted by the Constitution, and we have heard today the question: Why, why, why change…”

“the President's veto power is granted by the Constitution, and we have heard today the question: Why, why, why change this power now or try to have some impact on how this power is being used in this body? Well, I will be very happy to explain it. Something has gone totally haywire, and spending is totally out of control and has been for decades. One of the reasons this system is not working is because there has been a fundamental change, a diminution of the President's veto power. Past legislation, especially spending bills, that went through this body were specific and usually very, very understandable. Today we find massive continuing resolutions and appropriations bills that are hundreds, if not thousands, of pages long that span the issues, that span our whole imagination, and they are very difficult to understand. This is how our process has evolved, and what has happened is the President's veto power in this evolution has been devolved along with this. In short, the President's veto power has been neutralized by the evolution of how we do our business, and the reason why our spending situation is out of control is this constitutional authority given by our Founding Fathers is really no longer in effect.”