Roy Blunt: “today I come to the floor in support of this bill, the Line Item Veto Act, and I applaud Congressman Paul Ryan for his…”

“today I come to the floor in support of this bill, the Line Item Veto Act, and I applaud Congressman Paul Ryan for his hard work on this legislation. The Line Item Veto Act will work to eliminate wasteful spending, safeguard against questionable appropriation decisions, and further protect taxpayers' dollars from waste, fraud and abuse. It becomes another important tool that helps us restrain spending and meets the constitutional test that the line item veto given to the President during the Clinton administration but reversed by the Supreme Court could not meet. It may not be everything that line item veto was, but I think Mr. Ryan has worked hard to make it everything it could be and meet that constitutional standard. At the same time, it increases transparency in the process, it protects legitimate spending requests that direct funds to carry out important projects that benefit Americans, and it also gives Congress the final word in that important constitutional responsibility that the previous speaker mentioned was uniquely given to us. We bring someone else into this process in a way that helps. It will make a difference. I think it is more than barely a dent, but even a dent becomes another tool, makes a difference. I think it makes a significant difference. Mr. Ryan has worked hard. He was given six challenges to the original proposal that he brought to this Congress. He made six significant changes.…”