Kendrick Meek: “I serve on the Committee on Government Reform. I have heard the arguments for and against the line-item veto. I have…”

“I serve on the Committee on Government Reform. I have heard the arguments for and against the line-item veto. I have read numerous reports and analyses. I have heard from my constituents and from my colleagues, both pro and con, and noted arguments ranging from James Madison's intent 200 years ago to concerns about balancing the budget. The question that keeps coming up in my mind is what is the rationale for the line-item veto? Why is the House so anxious to alter the constitutional balance of power between the legislative and executive branches? Why? Why are we so anxious to bolster the power of the President and to bolster the power of a minority of the House at the expense of our constitutional power? It is a very scary initiative, Mr. Chairman, the initiative that you will find in the line-item veto bill. I think that this line-item veto will is a constitutional equivalent of the huckster's snake-oil cure of years gone by. The claims are inflated, they are exaggerated, the content is questionable, the results are unknown and unpredictable. No one has tested the impact, either fiscal or otherwise, of a line-item veto power being given to our President. I shudder to think of some of the Presidents we have had in history having the enormous power which we will give him through the line-item veto.”