A constitutional amendment has been introduced in Washington to give President Bush and future Presidents a line item veto on bills passed by Congress. Senator Jim Talent and Senator George Allen of Virginia are co-authors of the amendment. Talent says it will benefit people across the country by allowing the White House to veto what many taxpayers consider waste that is often part of bills sent to the President’s desk. This is not the first attempt to give the President this power. The Line Item Veto Act was signed into law in April of 1996 and became effective in January of 1997. Then-President Bill Clinton exercised the veto power 82 times before the Act was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in June of 1998. That was a law. This is a Constitutional Amendment. Talent believes support exists, across the land, to make the line item veto part of the U.S. Constitution.
Related web sites:
Announcement of Constitutional Amendment