[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 44 (Tuesday, April 15, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1459-H1460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   LINE ITEM VETO ACT HELD UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT

  (Mr. SKAGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. SKAGGS. Mr. Speaker, I am joining with three other colleagues in 
introducing a bill to give the President and Congress new, effective 
and, very importantly, constitutional powers to weed out wasteful 
Government spending.
  As my colleagues know, the Federal District Court last week held 
unconstitutional, as it should have, the Line Item Veto Act that was 
passed by Congress last year and became effective the first of this 
year.
  The bipartisan approach that I am taking today with colleagues is the 
introduction of the Expedited Rescissions Act of 1997, it will provide 
an effective tool for getting at those items of wasteful spending that 
sometimes get buried in appropriations bills, but doing so in a way 
that honors the constitutional principle of separation of powers that 
was central to the court's

[[Page H1460]]

holding of unconstitutionality of the line item veto last week.
  This bill is similar to one that passed the House but was not taken 
up by the Senate in 1993. It will provide a very useful tool for 
getting at wasteful items in appropriations bills, and I urge my 
colleagues to consider cosponsorship.

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