[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 21 (Thursday, February 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE LINE-ITEM VETO: WIN ONE FOR THE GIPPER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  (Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I quote from President Ronald 
Reagan's final State of the Union Address on January 25, 1988. He said 
at that time,

       Let's help ensure our future of prosperity by giving the 
     President a tool that, though I will not get to use it, is 
     one that I know future Presidents of either party must have. 
     Give the President the same authority that 43 Governors use 
     in their states: the right to reach into massive 
     appropriation bills, pare away the waste, and enforce budget 
     discipline. Let's approve the line item veto.

  We have the opportunity, hopefully by Monday, to pass that important 
legislation to reduce wasteful spending. On Monday it will be former 
President Ronald Reagan's birthday.
  The line-item veto, together with a balanced budget amendment, 
constitutes the Fiscal Responsibility Act pledged by Republicans in the 
Contract With America. These two measures will work together to restore 
fiscal responsibility to an out-of-control Congress.
  Every year, ridiculous projects and tax benefits are buried in 
appropriation bills and tax bills. It is clear from the writings of 
Madison and Hamilton in the Federalist Papers that the Framers intended 
a two-branch review of all laws, including appropriations. The line-
item veto will restore the constitutional system of checks and balances 
over each individual appropriation, preventing future Congresses from 
effectively eliminating the President's veto authority through creative 
legislative packaging.
  The States, the laboratories of democracy under our decentralized 
federalist system, have proven that the line-item veto works. State 
legislatures have recognized its effectiveness as an important tool in 
restraining the growth of government.
  The goal of the line-item veto is to allow the President to rescind 
pork-barrel spending. Pork-barrel projects are usually attached to 
bills of vital importance to the continued operation of the Government 
or bills that enjoy wide popularity. As such, the bill is assured of 
passage and the President's signature. All of this will change with the 
adoption of the line-item veto.
  The years 1993 and 1994 saw plenty of wasteful appropriations that 
would have been targets for the veto pen if the President had been able 
to exercise that authority. These are just a few: Fifteen billion to 
build never authorized courthouses opposed by the Federal judges in the 
region where they were to be build; 1.1 million for a plant stress lab; 
and 35 million to eradicate screw worms in Mexico.
  I call on my colleagues on Monday to adopt this important legislation 
unanimously, a line-item veto, to help us restore fiscal responsibility 
to the United States of America.


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