William Tauzin: “the bottom line is if you are going to pass a bill that gives the President line-item veto, even when this Congress has…”

“the bottom line is if you are going to pass a bill that gives the President line-item veto, even when this Congress has been responsible, you are creating all of the problems that many have risen to the mike and spoken about today and yesterday. You are creating the problems of a President who has the authority to cajole, coerce, in some cases even politically blackmail Members of this body, even when the Congress has been responsible. Now, if you want to give this Congress the same power legislators have to protect against that, and at the same time you want to use a line-item veto as a tool to enforce congressional responsibility, to enforce the balanced budget amendment we recently adopted, this kind of an amendment will do it. On the other hand, if this bill is changed, as it may be changed, to go beyond deficit line-item reduction by line-item veto, to go beyond that point, then maybe you better consider the majority override. That is my point today.”