James Traficant: “I oppose the line-item veto. Very simple, the presidency has become so powerful that the President can bail our Mexico…”

“I oppose the line-item veto. Very simple, the presidency has become so powerful that the President can bail our Mexico and Congress does not even question it. From what I understand, the congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle nodded their heads and said, go ahead, Mr. President, under some sort of executive authority that you may have, go ahead and enact a program that 80 percent of the American people oppose and could not pass through the Congress. Now, I am not knocking President Clinton. I am talking about the presidency and the separation of powers, legitimate separation of powers. I have seen over the years the Congress of the United States, their authority usurped by Presidents who are making decisions, clearly within the constitutional province of the people to a duly elected Congress, and the Congress has not challenged it. I believe on the eve here, in the wake of this Mexican bailout, that the Congress of the United States should go to court and attempt to enjoin this White House from proceeding and get a determination in the courts as to whether or not the people rule in America or the White House becomes the autocratic ruler around here.”