Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, you know, this bill is called the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act. I think it may be inappropriately named because it gives an illusion that this is a veto power as we're used to seeing a veto power in the Congress. This is not handing over to the President and saying, cut wherever you want and we have to override you. Instead, this is a Presidential handing to him and just saying, okay, check this. If he sees anything he doesn't like, he sends it back and we have to agree with it. If either the House or the Senate says, no, that should be there, it stays. It's not an override. It's actually an agreement with the President on one thing or another. Maybe this bill should have been called the ``second opinion'' bill, to be able to have what we put out of the House and out of the Senate and what we pass, pass onto the President. He takes a look at it and says, That all looks great, I'm signing off on it; or say, You know what, maybe we should take a look at this area. Currently, our appropriations team that we have in the House is doing a fantastic job of holding the line on spending. I am not as confident 10 years from now that that may still exist. This is a check to that. Currently, this body has banned earmarks. It's not a permanent ban; it's in the rules for us for this current session. Will that still exist years from now? I don't know.…”