House, Senate GOP Agrees on Line-Item Veto

House and Senate Republicans reached agreement Thursday night on a long-stalled measure to grant presidents line-item veto authority--a historic step that would vastly expand the powers of the presidency and diminish those of Congress.

Each chamber had passed differing versions of line-item veto legislation a year ago. Since then, representatives from the Senate and House had been meeting sporadically without success to resolve their differences.

The breakthrough was announced by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the conference committee.

The agreed-to measure, if ratified as expected by both the House and Senate, would grant presidents, starting with President Clinton, the authority to delete specific funds in appropriations bills as well as to cancel special-interest tax breaks. Presidents always have been limited to approving or vetoing entire appropriations bills, which often forces them to accept funding for projects that they oppose.

Such authority has been strongly championed by Clinton--and by majorities in both houses of Congress--as a scalpel against pork-barrel spending by profligate lawmakers.

The line-item veto was a key element in the “contract with America,” the House GOP campaign manifesto that drove much of the Republican legislative agenda in 1995.

Numerous “contract” items, however, have failed to become reality, usually because of House GOP members’ refusal to compromise; these include the balanced-budget constitutional amendment, regulatory reform, a tax cut, congressional term limits and welfare reform. A similar fate seemed in store for legal tort reform, another “contract” item, but House Republicans on Wednesday agreed to accept a much milder Senate version.

The breakthroughs on legal reform and the line-item veto appear to reflect growing Republican unease with the criticism that the new GOP majority in Congress has failed to deliver on many of its promises.

Line-item veto authority has been coveted by White House occupants at least since the post-Civil War presidency of Ulysses S. Grant.

Under the agreement reached Thursday night, a president would be able to eliminate or reduce funds for specific programs in an appropriations bill, Stevens said.

The president would return vetoed items in a package to Congress, which would have 30 days to restore items to the bill. A two-thirds vote would be required.

The agreement also provides that all deleted funds would go directly to deficit reduction, he said. “It could not be reallocated by the president or Congress to other spending, benefits or tax breaks.”

The conference report also would allow a president to cancel any targeted tax breaks given to a group of 100 or fewer beneficiaries.

“If this agreement is enacted, the president will finally have a powerful tool to help control federal spending,” Stevens said.

“Most importantly, this agreement ensures that the president can reach the uncontrollable portion of the federal budget--the entitlement programs and targeted tax benefits that provide corporate welfare--as well as the 30% that is discretionary spending,” Stevens said.

The legislation had been stalled because of differences between the House and Senate bills over the veto process and how much authority to give the president.

Across the country, 43 governors already wield line-item veto authority, although the device’s impact on reducing spending overall has been insignificant, according to many political analysts.

Their studies have shown that governors often have used the line-item veto to replace the spending priorities of legislators with their own. Political scientists also have found that the line-item veto can, at least in some circumstances, lead to increased spending--particularly if governors and legislators engage in a frenzy of vote-trading over pet projects.

And while it may seem incongruous for a Republican Congress to grant such authority to a Democratic president, many Republicans have said that it is not only the right thing to do but that they expect to elect a Republican as president in November.

Shortly after the Senate passed its version of the bill last year, Majority Leader Bob Dole, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called the measure “a long overdue tool in our efforts to reduce the deficit.”

At present, a president may propose to rescind specific spending items in appropriations bills. But such proposals die unless Congress votes to approve them within 45 days of continuous session.