David Skaggs: “I am joining with three other colleagues in introducing a bill to give the President and Congress new, effective and…”

“I am joining with three other colleagues in introducing a bill to give the President and Congress new, effective and, very importantly, constitutional powers to weed out wasteful Government spending. As my colleagues know, the Federal District Court last week held unconstitutional, as it should have, the Line Item Veto Act that was passed by Congress last year and became effective the first of this year. The bipartisan approach that I am taking today with colleagues is the introduction of the Expedited Rescissions Act of 1997, it will provide an effective tool for getting at those items of wasteful spending that sometimes get buried in appropriations bills, but doing so in a way that honors the constitutional principle of separation of powers that was central to the court's holding of unconstitutionality of the line item veto last week. This bill is similar to one that passed the House but was not taken up by the Senate in 1993. It will provide a very useful tool for getting at wasteful items in appropriations bills, and I urge my colleagues to consider cosponsorship.”