Line Item Veto?

Bush requests Line Item Veto

I'm of two minds about the line item veto. The fiscal conservative in me says maybe its a good thing, enabling the president to cut spending on the useless pork that the congress loads down every bill with. Especially since it will enable the president to cut out items that they congress tries to sneak through on the most important bills, like troop supply expenditures.

The constitutionalist part of me says that the line item veto is an over extension of the President's veto power. It is the congress' purpose to legislate, not the President's. The president, as executive, is supposed to carry out that legislation. To often the Congress sits on its hands, waiting around for the President to propose legislation. That's completely bass-ackward. They sit around complaining that the president hasn't done enough about X,Y, or Z. When its their job to legislate. It seems like the only thing they do bother to legislate are absurd pork projects for their home state, in time to get re-elected. And i'm not just talking about this particular congress, but the momentum of the institution itself.