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Obama Proposes Bill to Cut Out "Unnecessary" Budget Items
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May 24, 2010 4:29 p.m. EST
Topics: government, politics, economy, business and finance, executive (government), economy, national government, United States
Tom Ramstack - AHN News Correspondent
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) - President Barack Obama is trying again to win authority for a “line item veto” that has eluded other administrations for decades.
The bill Obama proposed Monday would authorize the president to cut out portions of spending bills and send them back to Congress for a separate vote.
Unlike previous line-item veto proposals, Congress could vote yes or no on each earmark rejected by the president, but lawmakers could not amend them.
Peter Orszag, the president’s budget director, said the new bill could save taxpayers billions of dollars per year.
“It’s just another tool ... it adds to the arsenal,” Orszag said during a press conference.
Obama’s Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010 comes amid rising outrage in Congress and warnings from economists about the budget deficit.
The White House budget office estimates the federal government’s annual deficit at $1.5 trillion. The nation’s total debt is close to $13 trillion.
Several presidents have called for the veto authority but always ran into congressional opponents who said it would extend presidential power too far.
This time, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) is leading the opposition. He says a line item veto would violate the constitution’s required balance of powers between different branches of government.
Obama and other executive branch members say a veto is the only way to stop Congress from inserting unnecessary spending into bills needed to keep the federal government operating.
The unnecessary spending, or pork, often represents pet projects intended to please local voters and help congressmen get re-elected, according to advocates of line-item vetoes.
The Supreme Court overruled the line item veto in 1998 case during the Clinton administration.
When President George W. Bush tried again in 2006 with a proposal similar to Obama, the Republican majority in the House approved it. However, the Senate never voted on it.
Democrats overwhelmingly disapproved of it.
Orszag said the nation’s financial difficulties have worsened to the point Congress is likely to be more willing to approve expanding the president’s authority over the budget.
The Obama administration says the bill avoids the constitutional pitfalls of previous efforts.
Congress would get to vote on the proposed budget cuts before they take effect.
As a result, the president would not be undermining the constitutional authority of Congress to pass laws.
Obama calls his revamped version of the veto power a rescission.
Instead of giving the president absolute authority to remove pork items from the budget, the bill would give him authority to send them back to Congress for a second vote.
If Congress approves them a second time, the president could no longer take them out of the budget.
Congress also would have a deadline to vote on second approvals of each item, thereby avoiding a filibuster.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said he was pleased Obama was trying to show “fiscal discipline,” but said members of the president’s own Democratic Party were mostly to blame for big budget deficits.
“If President Obama is truly committed to fiscal responsibility, he will use the authority he already has under the law to force Congress to vote immediately on spending cuts,” Boehner said in a statement. “He should also call on Democrats in Congress to pass a real budget that reins in overall federal spending.”
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) has scheduled a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Wednesday on his own proposal for removing wasteful budget earmarks.
Among the big budget items Congress is considering this week are a proposal for a $170 billion extension of unemployment benefits and a proposal to fund the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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