Ricardo Aráoz wrote: > By the way.... What the HELL is a 'line item veto'? > In U.S. politics, a bill has to be either signed by the President, or vetoed. *In it's entirety.* Everything in the bill passes, or nothing in the bill passes. Because of this, Congress will often try to put additional items that they know the President will oppose into a bill that contains items they know he wants passed. The hope is (and it often works out) that the President will sign the bill anyway, just to get his items in. Sometimes he won't, as has happened recently with line items regarding a timetable to withdraw from Iraq.
As the Mad-man has pointed out, often these are just pork barrel items, not too injurious. However, as just noted, sometimes they're important, as in the afore mentioned timetable. A Line-item veto, which has been on the wish list of every U.S. President since Washington, would give the President the power to approve or veto items within a bill on an item-by-item basis. Obviously, this would remove a tool from Congress, and give more power to the President. The argument of those in favor of it, are that it would give a noble, visionary, powerful, righteous leader, such as our current President, the power to overcome an obstinate and short-sighted congress, for the betterment of the U.S. The argument of those opposed to it, such as myself, are that it would give a congenital idiot, such as our current President, the power to run roughshod over the only power capable of possibly standing between him and the destruction of the U.S. In reality, it's a moot point. Congress would have to approve it, and the odds of that happening are only slightly better then the odds of the Mad-inator being the Grand Marshall of the Gay Pride March on the Frozen Fields of Hell. _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
