[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 10 (Monday, March 13, 2006)]
[Page 409]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress Transmitting a Legislative Proposal To Give the 
President a Line-Item Veto

March 6, 2006

To the Congress of the United States:

    In my State of the Union Address, I asked the Congress to give the 
President a line item veto. Today, I am sending the Congress a 
legislative proposal to give the President line item authority to reduce 
wasteful spending. This legislation will help to limit spending and 
ensure accountability and transparency in the expenditure of taxpayer 
funds.
    Although the Congress achieved significant spending restraint this 
past year, appropriations and other bills that are sent to my desk still 
contain spending that is not fully justified, is a low priority, or is 
earmarked to avoid the discipline of competitive or merit-based reviews. 
When this legislation is presented to me, I now have no ability to line 
out unnecessary spending. In 1996, the Congress gave the President a 
line item veto--an important tool to limit wasteful spending--but the 
Supreme Court struck down that version of the law in 1998.
    My proposed legislation, the ``Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 
2006,'' would provide a fast-track procedure to require the Congress to 
vote up-or-down on rescissions proposed by the President. There has been 
broad bipartisan support for similar proposals in the past. Under this 
proposal, the President could propose legislation to rescind wasteful 
spending, and the Congress would be obligated to vote quickly on that 
package of rescissions, without amendment. The same procedure would 
apply to new mandatory spending and to special interest tax breaks given 
to small numbers of individuals.
    Forty-three Governors have a line item veto to reduce spending. The 
President needs similar authority to help control unjustified and 
wasteful spending in the Federal budget. I urge you to promptly consider 
and send me this legislation for enactment to reduce unnecessary 
spending and help achieve my goal of cutting the deficit in half by 
2009.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 March 6, 2006.