Time for a Constitutional Line Item Veto

As the year draws to a close and the nation’s deficit soars to $1.4 trillion, Congress’s spendthrift behavior persists.  On December 16, 2009 President Obama signed a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill; $446.8 billion of that amount covered six of the seven remaining appropriations bill. 

Compared to the fiscal year 2009 versions of the six bills, there was an average increase in spending of 12.5 percent.  Measured against fiscal year 2008, the legislation provides a staggering 24.4 percent increase, with State-Foreign Operations up by 48.8 percent, Transportation and Housing rising 39.1 percent, and Commerce, Justice and Science increasing 24.3 percent.

The omnibus bill contained more than 5,000 earmarks worth nearly $4 billion.  This pork-laden legislation should not have been shoved down the throats of hardworking Americans, especially at a time when the economy is suffering and the national debt is greater than $12 trillion and rising quickly.

President Obama promised to ring in a new era of transparency and fiscal accountability.  Unfortunately, congressional actions have spoken louder than his words.  The majority of amendments submitted to the various appropriations bills earlier this year were not made in order, and not a single appropriations bill was considered under an open rule, a gross violation of House precedent.  Even worse, the text of the omnibus was made available to the public a mere 36 hours before House floor consideration, in violation of Democratic leadership promises that all major bills would be available on the Internet for 72 hours before a vote.  (The manager’s amendment for the massive Senate healthcare bill was also only available for 36 hours, and was voted on at 1:00 a.m. on Monday, December 21, 2009.)

The out-of-control spending in Washington never ceases because procedural rules are constantly broken, pork-barrel earmarks are inserted into bills when no one is looking, and lawmakers rush to vote before a bill’s text can be closely scrutinized.

A constitutional version of the presidential line-item veto is long overdue, because Congress has confronted the president repeatedly with hastily-crafted, 11th-hour omnibus bills that cover all or substantial portions of federal spending for the year.  This practice inhibits the exercise of the President’s only choice of a veto of the entire bill, which under such circumstances would have the effect of closing down the federal government.

On December 16, 2009, Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the benefits of expedited rescission authority, a procedure that would help rein in federal spending, minimize the number of pork-barrel earmarks, and begin to reduce the nation’s ever-growing debt.

It is an affront to common sense that while the president now can propose to rescind any portion of an appropriations bill, Congress is not required to vote on his rescission package.  If Congress chooses to ignore the president’s request, it expires after 45 days.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) has introduced S. 907, and Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have introduced S. 524, both of which would require Congress to vote on the president’s proposed rescissions within 10 days.  Mandating a vote on proposed rescissions will force lawmakers to validate their own wasteful and excessive spending programs.  Such a practice will not only increase transparency and accountability, but will also protect taxpayers from financing unnecessary projects.  Sen. Carper’s bill limits the amount that can be cut from authorized programs or earmarks to 25 percent while the Feingold-McCain bill does not have any such limits.

Congress has always found a way to break its own budget rules, making it easier to add unrelated projects to spending bills.  Enacting S. 907, S. 524, or some other version of a constitutional line-item veto would allow the president to weigh parochial expenditures, which benefit the few, against the common good and the priorities of the many.  The American people know the way business is done in Washington, and they are seeking changes.

If President Obama had the ability to propose rescissions to this year’s bloated omnibus bill, perhaps taxpayers would have seen a decrease in spending and earmarks.  Congress must demonstrate a serious intent to control spending by passing legislation giving the president expedited rescission authority.  Americans cannot afford to wait any longer. The time to pass a constitutional line-item veto is now.

  — Erica Gordon