Line-item veto strange bedfellows: Feingold, Ryan, McCain

It is said that politics makes strange bedfellows. The lawmakers backing legislation to bring back the line-item veto power to the president would be an example of that phenomena.

I know John McCain has "reached across the isle" to Russ Feingold before with campaign finance reform. (They should have kept the bundling board on that one!) But this time conservative Congressman Paul Ryan is joining in. This time I think the cause is worth joining forces. Feingold, Ryan join McCain bill for line item veto:

The Wisconsin lawmakers joined Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona
on Wednesday to reintroduce the legislation. The Supreme Court struck
down previous line item veto legislation in 1998, and subsequent
efforts to pass it did not gain traction.

The president should have a line-item veto. President Ronald Reagan spoke about the need for the line-item veto power in his 1986 State of the Union address, "Tonight I ask you to give me what forty-three governors have: Give me a line-item veto this year. Give me the authority to veto waste, and I'll take the responsibility, I'll make the cuts, I'll take the heat."

President Clinton also requested it in his State of the Union address in 1995. He got it for about 2 minutes when Sen. Bob Dole and John McCain's Line-Item Veto Act of 1996 passed. The Supreme Court struck it down, however, because they said "it took away too much of the US Congress's authority over spending under the US Constitution."

I am not sure President Obama really wants it though. He seems to like spending money without having to be accountable. Without a line item-veto, he can hide behind the all or nothing approach to budget bills.

President Bush is bashed for his deficits. President Obama is blaming him for the pork in the present Omnibus bill, yet is doing nothing to eliminate some of those earmarks. As for Bush's deficit spending, keep in mind that often to get his war budget passed, he had to swallow hard and sign on to the pork and Christmas treeing of added spending.

I hope this attempt at a line-item veto will pass and pass Supreme Court muster.

Feingold, Ryan and McCain say their bill was tweaked to make it constitutional.

Paul Ryan on Line-Item Veto

Want to thank Feingold, Ryan and McCain for trying? (Encouragement is as important as voicing displeasure.) Senators Russ Feingold (202) 224-5323, John McCain (202) 224-2235, and Congressman Paul Ryan (202) 225-3031 (You must call if you do not live in his district or email him directly CongressmanPaul.Ryan@mail.house.gov)

Links:
Practically Speaking, Fairly Conservative, CNS News, Jay Weber, Mark Levin, Vicki McKenna, Jay Weber, The Right View Wisconsin, The Heritage Foundation