Word: vetoes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Opponents of the authority fear that it would be an unnecessary expansion of presidential power. A president with the power to veto individual appropriations could slash his opponents' favorite programs and leave intact his supporters' plans. Fearing for their re-election chances, legislators could become completely subservient to the executive...
...there is no guarantee that the veto would actually reduce spending. If a president wanted a program badly enough, he could blackmail congressional leaders into supporting him by threatening to veto their pet bills. The budget would then include the president's agenda as well as the Congress...
Since the president is already granted a general veto power by the Constitution, the item veto is unnecessary. With the authority he already has, a shrewd president can expose legislative big spenders and cut out the fat on spending bills--without completely realigning the relationship between the executive and legislative branches...
...omnibus appropriations package is too wasteful, the president can pick out the most superfluous expenditures and veto the entire bill because of them. Then he could promise to sign the same bill into law, as long as the offensive appropriations were excluded...
Framing the debate in this way, the president could force Congress into the court of public opinion. With a two-thirds majority, Congress could override his veto and pass the original appropriations bill, which would appear to the public as sanctioning wasteful spending. Or they could accept his veto and pass the same bill without those expenditures, as the president had proposed...