Item Veto: Budgetary Savings (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
May 26, 2005 |
| Report Number |
RS22155 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Louis Fisher, Government and Finance Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Congressional interest in an item veto for the President may resurface during the109th Congress. At a news conference on November 4, 2004, President George W.Bush expressed an interest in receiving item-veto authority "to maintain budgetdiscipline." In early 2005, when the Administration submitted its budget for FY2006,the volume on "Analytical Perspectives" contained a section proposing a line-item veto"linked to deficit reduction." An earlier congressional effort - the Line Item Veto Actof 1996- was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Clinton v. Cityof New York (1998). This report examines the potential of an item veto to yieldbudgetary savings as part of an overall strategy to reduce the budget deficit. Lessonsdrawn from earlier Administrations indicate that the reductions that can be expectedfrom the exercise of an item veto would likely be of modest dimensions.
