Just about every President has bemoaned the fact that they have had to either sign bills they liked that had parts in them they didn’t like, or had to veto an entire bill they liked because they couldn’t accept some of the spending line items.
Congress and President GW Bush tried to institute a line item veto without an amendment to the Constitution and it got struck down by the Supreme Court, and rightly so, but it is my belief that we need to follow up now and get this long overdue and highly useful executive tool in place for appropriations bills.
If nothing else, just the fact that Presidents would wield this power, would act as a powerful deterrent to Congress to not mess around with trying to sneak “pork barrel” spending into appropriations bills and be serious and thrifty and focus on doing just the true business of the American people and nothing more.
Make no mistake about it….pork barrel spending is a form of corruption, and it needs to end permanently and never come back.
Perry Waag 