A different view

Line Item Veto - Friend or Foe

President George Bush has yet to veto a single bill given him from Congress. He's threatened a veto a few times, but only to bully Congress to stopping legislation he didn't like.

The last time Bush talked of a veto was a threat to the Dubai Ports Bill limiting foreign ownership of American ports. I have never heard of him trying to limit a single spending item.

Suddenly he wants a line-item veto. His official stance is that this would allow him to cut pork out of spending bills and limit spending.

Call me a cynic. I've never seen Bush worry about our mounting debt. Even despite warnings from the Federal Reserve and National Association for Business Economics that the federal deficit is harming our economy, he's never pressured congress to limit spending. He even hides line items in his budget like funds for Afghanistan or Iraq, adding them in later as extra spending items.

My guess is that this weakening presidency is looking for new ways to blackmail Congress into passing his pet projects. A senator threatens to vote on an item you're against, Bush merely threatens to block all spending projects for their state.

We've already seen how intimidated Senator Frist is by the Whitehouse. First he's against it, then he's for it. The carrot and stick in this case is Frist's desire to make a run for the Whitehouse in '08. Rove and crowd have clearly signalled that they are supporting George Allen for the next Republican run, yet there's still incentive enough to control Frist.

Imagine if George could sway every spending item and special project for Tennessee. Bill Frist would start supporting the cessation of all stem cell research in a heart beat.

While I'd like to see spending severely limited, the line item veto is a right that Bush should first earn. Not a power granted to beat Congress over the head with.

posted by don1one @ 11:32 AM