Historic Line-Item Veto Legislation Passed in House
Rep. Conaway – “We have taken a big step on the road to fiscal responsibility with this line-item legislation.”, 6/22/2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Mike Conaway (R-TX), a CPA and member of the House Budget Committee, voted in favor of the Line Item Veto Act of 2006.

“Reigning in federal spending should be a top priority of this Congress,” said Conaway. “For too long, this federal government has been writing checks that our grandchildren will not be able to cash, but we are changing that. We have taken a big step on the road to fiscal responsibility with this line-item legislation.”

Within 45 days of the enactment of a law, the President will have the authority to propose the cancellation of specific legislative spending provisions that he deems are unnecessary or wasteful. After the president makes his line-item veto proposals, Congress must introduce a bill reflecting the proposed cancellations and have an up or down vote on it. The Line-Item Veto Act of 2006 would devote any savings from any legislative cancellations toward deficit reduction.

Conaway went on to say, “I am fully committed to increasing the transparency and accountability in federal spending. Passing the Line-Item Veto will be a positive tool to control wasteful spending and discourage inefficient and unnecessary spending.”

This bill is a different version of the Line-Item Veto bill that Congress gave President Clinton in 1996. In 1998, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional because it allowed the President to single-handedly change laws passed by Congress. The legislation passed today is constitutionally sound because Congress would retain the final say on relevant legislation.