Cord Byrd: “in the late hours last night, I took to the floor to decry some Senators who wish, if I may put it in this language, to…”

“in the late hours last night, I took to the floor to decry some Senators who wish, if I may put it in this language, to sabotage the ethics reform legislation with a dangerous and unconstitutional line-item veto proposal. What is happening is little more than political blackmail, and the American people--those people out there who are watching through the lenses above the President's chair, the American people--should be outraged. I have been around here a long time. I have spoken on this subject many times. This so-called line-item veto is an assault on the single most important protection that the American people have against a President, any President, who wants to run roughshod over the liberties of the people prescribed in the Constitution. Today I am talking about the congressional power over the purse. The congressional power that is right here, and over on the other side of the Capitol, the congressional power over the purse. Weaken the power of the purse and one weakens strong--the word ``strong'' is too weak--one weakens oversight, for example, on this bloody nightmare of a war in Iraq. Get that? Weaken the power over the public purse and we weaken the oversight over this bloody war in Iraq. That is just one example. One weakens the power of the purse and one weakens the checks on a President who wants to tap into personal telephone calls or pry into bank accounts or tear open the mail.”