This isn't a surprise but
Reuters is reporting that Bush will present his proposal for line item veto power.
President George W. Bush will soon make a formal request to Congress for a line-item veto -- authority that would give him power to cancel specific spending items in budget bills, an administration official said on Sunday.
More after the flip.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not wish to be seen as pre-empting the president's announcement, said that Bush would transmit to Congress a proposal with language aimed at withstanding a Supreme Court challenge.
Bush plans to announce his intention to draw up a proposal on the line-item veto on Monday morning during a ceremony to swear in the new chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Edward Lazear, the official said.
As background, Clinton did have line-item veto powers. The Supreme Court struck this down 6-3 in Clinton et. al. vs. City of New York et. al. in 1998. Stevens, Kennedy, Rehnquist, Souter, Thomas and Ginsburg voted to strike down the law. Justices O'Connor, Scalia and Breyer voted to uphold it.
We'll see what happens with this. Republicans have long salivated over this power. They'll be able to use this to counter wasteful spending claims, to go on the offensive with regard to corruption and lobbying scandals, and head off Democrats attacks on it by using--you guessed it, "Clinton did it!".
The shifting legal justifications should be interesting. The Supreme Court said in 1998 that a constitutional amendment would be needed, but I don't doubt that'll be different with King George's Court.
This is another front on ever expanding presidential power. Bush claims unique priviledges to conduct the War on Terror, without end, the right to spy on citizens without a warrant, the right to interpret laws as he sees fit, and now the ability to fund at will. What exactly is Congress there for?