[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11995]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                LINE ITEM VETO IS NOTHING BUT DIVERSION

  (Mr. BUTTERFIELD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, House Republicans are going to try to 
demonstrate that they are serious about reversing the record deficits 
that they have created. What is their plan? They want to give President 
Bush a line item veto. Incredible.
  If the President was really interested in curbing Federal 
expenditures, he could have vetoed any number of appropriations bills 
over the last 5 years. To this date, Mr. Speaker, the President has not 
vetoed one bill that has come out of this Republican Congress, not one. 
President Bush is the longest sitting President since Thomas Jefferson 
not to exercise the veto.
  So one might ask, why does the President need a line item veto when 
he refuses to use the veto? The fact is, Mr. Speaker, this is nothing 
more than a smokescreen invented by the Republicans to show that they 
are serious about deficit reduction.
  They are trying to divert attention away from the fact that under 
their control record surpluses have turned into record deficits. If 
President Bush really wanted to exercise discipline, he would have 
vetoed other legislation.

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