THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603160022
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
When Republicans controlled the White House but not the Congress, they demanded a line-item veto for the president. Since losing the White House but winning the Congress, their enthusiasm for empowering the executive has waned, even though the line-item veto was promised in the Contract With America.
Passing a line-item veto is still the right thing to do, however. And Republicans may be about to get it done - after a year of delay. House and Senate negotiators are expected to deliver a bill next week. They may still try to postpone implementation until after November, hoping the president wielding the veto pen will be Bob Dole not Bill Clinton. (In fact, guess who played a key role in resolving the dispute between House and Senate? Majority leader Dole, himself.) Still, better late than never.
On June 4, 1987, the Constitutional Convention debated the veto. Those in favor, like Alexander Hamilton, thought it was a necessary check on a spendthrift Congress. Those opposed, like Benjamin Franklin, feared that it would be used by the executive ``to extort money. No good law whatever could be passed without a private bargain with him.''
As usual, it was James Madison who proposed he essential compromise. Give the executive the veto, but permit the legislature to override. The line-item veto does no damage to the intent of the framers. Indeed, it may restore the original intent, permitting the executive again to object to individual spending items.
Congress has made that almost impossible by constructing huge bills that bundle funding for crucial programs with shameless pork and then daring the president to veto the whole mess. It's a form of extortion, though not the one Franklin feared.
The line-item veto would permit the president to veto one discrete bit of spending at a time. If Congress felt strongly about the item, it could restore the money. But it's a safe bet that a lot of pork, standing alone and subjected to the disinfecting light of day, would not survive. It might not even be included in legislation in the first place.
The GOP majority that hit Washington more than a year ago with high hopes for reform adopted a motto: promises made, promises kept. The promise of a line-item veto is one worth keeping. The sooner the better. by CNB