[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 144 (Thursday, October 23, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9045]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SUPPORT H.R. 2649 OR H.R. 2650 TO END LINE-ITEM VETO

  (Mr. SKAGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SKAGGS. Madam Speaker, I think there was an interesting 
experience yesterday in the hearings before the Committee on National 
Security as we watched the worm turn. I noted with some sense of irony 
the protests that were being made about the President's recent exercise 
of the line-item veto, a power given to him by most of those who were 
protesting its exercise.
  The fears that we had that this would be an invitation to an abuse of 
power are being borne out. It is unconstitutional. It is bad public 
policy.
  Who do we have to blame? Ourselves.
  How do we undo it? Let us start here with a better approach: 
Expedited rescissions, giving the President the power to flag wasteful 
items, but then we have to vote and vote promptly.
  We have a measure for every taste. If my colleagues would like to 
repeal the line-item veto and replace it with expedited rescissions, 
H.R. 2649.
  If we are purists and want to completely repeal the line-item veto, a 
completely defensible point of view as well, H.R. 2650.

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