Dan Coats: “we hope later today to be bringing to the floor the line-item veto. Senator McCain and I are leading that effort. We are…”

“we hope later today to be bringing to the floor the line-item veto. Senator McCain and I are leading that effort. We are in final stages of negotiation as to the final form of the legislation. It is something that has been discussed at length over the past several years. Senator McCain and I have offered it alternately and jointly several times. We have not been able to secure the necessary 60 votes to break a filibuster on the line-item veto or to secure a budget waiver. This is the year we believe that it is time for the Senate and time for the Congress to fulfill its commitment to the American people on an item that an overwhelming majority of the American people support. Poll after poll show the support for line-item veto in the 70 to 80 percent range; 43 Governors enjoy the line-item veto and have for many, many years and have effectively demonstrated that it works in their State. Line-item veto is simply a measure by which the President can provide a check and balance against the gaming that Congress has engaged in on appropriations bills, in particular, and also on tax bills, I would say, in terms of attaching an item that has not been exposed to the light of debate on that item and a separate vote on that item, but has been attached to an otherwise necessary appropriations bill or tax bill that is being sent to the President.”