hypocritexposer
Well-known member
When President George W. Bush called for a kind of line-item veto four years ago, the top Senate Democrat said it was like getting a "bad sore throat," and the No. 2 House Democrat called it "a sham." On Monday, President Obama asked them to reconsider and pass something very like it, for his sake.
With fears of a Greece-style debt collapse roiling a Congress already balking at new spending this week, the White House on Monday proposed a modified line-item veto that would give the administration another crack at forcing Congress to vote on spending cuts.
But the proposal will have to pass a Congress wary of giving up power over the purse, and would require a reversal by many Democrats who voted against a similar proposal from Mr. Bush.
One who's already reversed himself is Mr. Obama, who as a senator in 2007 voted along with then-Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and almost all of the rest of Senate Democrats to filibuster Mr. Bush's proposal.
The White House said Mr. Obama embraced line-item powers by the time be won the White House, and that times are bad enough that Congress may now be ready to follow his lead.
"The fiscal context has changed as it became necessary to combat a severe economic downturn and as ongoing deficits have become a growing concern," Peter R. Orszag, Mr. Obama's budget director, told reporters. "We are hopeful the Congress will enact this legislation because it will help everyone to reduce unnecessary spending."
He said merely having the new powers could scare Congress into scrutinizing its spending bills more carefully, because members wouldn't want to be shamed by having their projects singled out later.
Analysts said the enhanced authority could help reduce spending slightly, but that it wouldn't have a big impact for a government that will spend close to $4 trillion this year, and said the timing is more about providing cover for a potential $200 billion spending and tax-cut-extensions bill Congress will try to pass this week.
"Why are they doing this now? They're about to put through an extenders bill that's an enormous embarrassment," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director who was later a top adviser to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and is now president of the American Action Forum.
He said he doubted Mr. Obama's proposal would be passed - "Republicans aren't going to want to hand additional power to Obama just prior to an election, and Democrats don't want to lose their ability to deliver favors" - and that early indications from Congress weren't promising.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/25/when-president-george-w-bush-called-for-a-kind-of-/