Political Quotes

“May I respond to my learned and good friend, there are no judicial pronouncements to the effect that this is constitutional, for the simple reason that it is rather new. It was enacted by Congress for the first time in 1996. But although it has never been adjudicated by the courts, it has been the subject of scholarly commentary. At the time we debated the measure in the Senate, I cited several such scholarly opinions, including those of Lawrence H. Tribe of the Harvard Law School, and Michael J. Gerhardt, then of the Cornell Law School, now dean of Case Western Reserve Law School. I noted that in Professor Tribe's treatise "American Constitutional Law," he writes: Empowering the President to veto appropriation bills line by line would profoundly alter the Constitution's balance of power. The President would be free, not only to nullify new Congressional spending initiatives and priorities, but to wipe out previously enacted programs that receive their funding through the annual appropriations policy. He goes on to say: Congress, which the Constitution makes the master of the purse, would be demoted to the role of giving fiscal advice that the executive would be free to disregard. The framers granted the President no such special veto over appropriations bills, despite their awareness of the insistence of colonial assemblies that their spending bills could not be amended once they passed the lower house had greatly enhanced the growth of legislative power.…”