Eliminating Wasteful Spending

ELIMINATING WASTEFUL SPENDING

Washington, D.C. - When I was elected to Congress last year, I pledged to be a fiscal conservative for the residents of the Second Congressional District. Taking a fiscally disciplined approach to government has always been one of my top priorities as an elected official. I am committed to seeking out and supporting common-sense measures that promote fiscal responsibility and curb government spending.

That is why I cosponsored and strongly support the Line Item Veto Act of 2006, which the President recently sent to Congress. The line item veto would be a useful tool designed to reduce the budget deficit, improve accountability and ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.

Many people are surprised to learn that the President currently has no power to remove wasteful or unnecessary spending in appropriations bills or other pieces of legislation that are presented to him. Often, provisions are slipped into larger spending bills that never get discussed or debated. The result is more spending.

The Legislative Line Item Veto Act would allow the President the authority to 'line out' unjustified spending items, eliminate new entitlement spending from the larger legislation, and return the bill to Congress for consideration. The Congress would then have 10 days to vote on each of the proposed cuts.

This is a bipartisan issue. Leaders and members of the Republican and Democratic parties, in both the House and Senate, have supported this approach in the past.

In fact, in 1996, the Congress gave the President a line-item veto, but the Supreme Court struck down that version of the law in 1998 because the Court felt that the Act gave the President too much power to change the text of enacted statutes. The Line Item Veto Act, however, does not raise those Constitutional issues because the President's rescission proposals must be approved by a majority in Congress and signed into law.

Forty-three Governors have a line-item veto to reduce spending, and I believe now is the time to give the President of the United States a similar tool to help control spending.

The Line Item Veto Act is not about giving the President more power or taking power away from Members of Congress; this legislation is about ensuring that your hard-earned taxpayer dollars are spent more wisely.

While I believe this legislation will go a long way toward identifying and eliminating government waste, it isn't the only solution. I am committed to working with my colleagues in Congress to continue to seek out other ways to promote fiscal responsibility and curb spending. As always, if you have any ideas or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact my office.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/oh02_schmidt/wastefulspending.html