I noted with some sense of irony the protests that were being made about the President's recent exercise of the line-item veto, a power given to him by most of those who were protesting its exercise. The fears that we had that this would be an invitation to an abuse of power are being borne out. It is unconstitutional. It is bad public policy. Who do we have to blame? Ourselves. How do we undo it? Let us start here with a better approach: Expedited rescissions, giving the President the power to flag wasteful items, but then we have to vote and vote promptly. We have a measure for every taste. If my colleagues would like to repeal the line-item veto and replace it with expedited rescissions, H.R. 2649. If we are purists and want to completely repeal the line-item veto, a completely defensible point of view as well, H.R. 2650.
David Skaggs: “I noted with some sense of irony the protests that were being made about the President's recent exercise of the…”
Editor's note · Context
Discussing the implications of the line-item veto during a Committee on National Security hearing.
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