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28

Line-Item Veto

Summary:

The President shall have a line-item veto but only on appropriation bills.

Line-Item Veto: Proposed Language

Every Bill not an appropriation Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approves he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to the House in which it shall have originated, which shall enter the Objections at large on its Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. Every appropriation Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes Law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approves he shall sign it, but if he approves it in part, he shall sign it as to the sections approved and shall return the Bill with the parts not approved with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated which shall thereupon proceed in the manner provided for above with respect to Bills which are not appropriation Bills. If the parts objected to are not approved as there provided, such parts shall not be Law but the parts approved shall be Law.

Commentary:

Congress routinely includes in spending bills appropriations that the President would prefer not to spend. However, the general consensus is that he must accept all of the bill as law or none of it. The result is that he must compare the overall benefits of the Bill to its disadvantages before he signs. If the President signs the Bill, he is duty bound to spend the funds he would prefer not to spend. The overall consequence is that the President is denied the opportunity to manage the financial affairs of the nation in the best way he can. If the President decides to veto the bill, Congress by a two thirds vote can always override the President and force the spending.

In Denton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), the Supreme Court said the Line Item Veto Act passed by Congress was not constitutional since it violated the procedures required by the Constitution to pass laws. 

Most people confronted with this issue favor a line item veto as a check on Congress prompted by lack of confidence that Congress will act wisely and, accordingly, we have submitted it for consideration by the States. This proposed Amendment in effect requires a two thirds vote of Congress if it wants to preserve as law those items in an appropriation Bill objected to by the President.

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