We need a line-item veto so that all this pork can be cut out of every bill. Congress is always putting their pet projects into bills. We need a line-item veto so that the president can remove certain items while passing other.
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This was tried by " Line-Item Veto Act of 1996" which was passed for the reasons you specified, and was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case called " Clinton v. City of New York" in 1998.
From Wikipedia:
Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 6–3, that the item veto, as granted in the Line Item Veto Act of 1996, violated the Presentment Clause of the United States Constitution because it impermissibly gave the President of the United States the power to unilaterally amend or repeal parts of statutes that had been duly passed by the United States Congress. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the six-justice majority that the line-item veto gave the President power over legislation unintended by the Constitution, and was therefore an overstep in their duties.
All it would take is to have a president with a backbone to say NO until they get a clean bill. No to bills with pork, No to Omnibus bills, No to anything except for single item clean bills, and actually shut the Government until that happend.
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I did not know that, thank you for taking the time to respond and let me know. Could they have a rule that disallows unlike items being added to a bill?
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I do not know, they could vote in a rule to require single item bills, but that only counts if they follow the rules and I do not believe there is evidence they do that 100% of the time. There is a rule that requires 72 hours to read a bill before a vote, UNLESS it is “fast tracked”, and then it can go to the floor for a vote right away. Amazing how many bills are late and need to be fast tracked. Remember, a lot, if not most, are Lawyers, so they are trained to write the rules so no one else can understand them. I believe the Congress can do pretty much what they want to do. It would take a President to say no, and then a 2/3 majority to over rule the veto to get them passed. If I had the power, and dang I don’t, every bill would be a single item bill with a title that actually reflects what the bill is a bout.
It really is a disgrace the way they have used and abused the taxpayer for their own benefit. They are self-first, country and citizens last. We really have very few who represent us in Washington D.C. I have Mitch McConnell, and he is a complete disgrace and a total joke. We can’t even recall him even though it is clear that he has suffered extreme cognitive decline. I would love to see term limits, but they would have to vote to implement term limits and that will never happen. It seems like we work our entire lives just to see at least half of what we earn shifted upward to make the wealthy wealthier and the people we vote for millionaires. I wish regular people could run for office, but it cost so much that it is impossible. I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a very Happy New Year! Thank you for all your thoughtful responses, they are very much appreciated. Sharon
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