Porter Goss: “I rise in support of this override effort because I am a strong supporter of the line-item veto and the process it…”

“I rise in support of this override effort because I am a strong supporter of the line-item veto and the process it provides for ensuring careful scrutiny of Federal spending. In this case, Congress is asserting its power of the purse, insisting to the President that we have carefully considered the items in the military construction spending bill that the President--I believe in haste and in error--chose to line-item veto. Contrary to the claims of some naysayers, we did not write Congress out of the spending process when we crafted the line-item veto. Quite the contrary, in fact, we provided very explicit procedures by which Congress could assert its authority-- as we witness by today's proceedings. Some pundits and even some Members have pointed to the President's application of the line-item veto on the military construction spending bill as an example of why the line-item veto isn't a good idea. I firmly disagree. The line item veto has accomplished exactly what those of us who spent years bringing it about intended--it has brought greater accountability and sunshine to the process of spending the taxpayers' money. And it has provided a real opportunity for saving more than one point $2 billion.”