Recent Posts
-
DATA Act Gets a Boost at Transparency Conference
September 13, 2013 -
Why Zero Wall Street CEOs Are in Jail
September 13, 2013 -
Senators Ask State Department To Respond to POGO Report on Embassy Security
September 12, 2013 -
SIGIR Releases Its Final Report
September 12, 2013 -
VA Makes Headway on Backlog with New Technology
September 12, 2013 -
Benghazi Ignored: New Evidence Exposes Gaps in Kabul Embassy Security
September 10, 2013 -
Map Shows State Dept. Official Gave Misleading Testimony to Congress
September 10, 2013 -
Watchdog Finds Flaws in DOE Contractor Responsibility Checks
September 10, 2013 -
DoD IG Confirms POGO’s DARPA Concerns
September 6, 2013
"Line-Item Veto Lite"
TweetJune 15, 2006
U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH), with the backing of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), recently introduced the Stop Over-Spending (S.O.S.) Act. The act includes provisions that would give the President line-Item veto power and establish a commission to evaluate federal programs and report to Congress which programs should be realigned or eliminated. The legislation aims to decrease the federal government's wasteful spending.
Some people might recall that a CRS report released this March found that many earmarks are not legally binding because they were added to committee and managers reports but not to the actual text of the bill. "These non-legislated earmarks are not legally binding, and the Administration has the authority to stop them," said Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) in a press release. Senators DeMint, Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) sent a letter to President George W. Bush urging him to use his authority to stop wasteful earmarks, but the president resisted. Robert Novak speculated that the White House was reluctant to anger committee chairmen and risk "retaliation."
The line-item veto outlined in the S.O.S. Act, dubbed by Forbes Magazine as "Line-Item Veto Lite," allows the president to single out wasteful items contained in appropriations bills he signs into law and would require Congress to vote on those items again.
At the time of publication, Mandy Smithberger was an investigator for the Project On Government Oversight, focusing on Department of the Interior oversight, including oil and gas royalties. Mandy also covered national security.
Authors: Mandy Smithberger
Stay Connected
Browse POGOBlog by Topic
POGO on Facebook
Latest Podcast
Podcast: How The Intelligence World Came to Rely on Contractors
POGO's Scott Amey talks about the growing private intelligence industry that includes major federal contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, the former employer of Edward Snowden. Podcast with Joe Newman, Aimee Thomson, Jana Persky and Andre Francisco.
