Why is line item veto unconstitutional

Line Item Veto Unconstitutional: Clinton v. City of New York. Item Veto: Budget Savings. Skip to content Cyclopedia of Congressional Budget Law Line Item Veto Summary The Line Item Veto is the term used for the authority of a President to veto provisions of legislation presented to him for his signature rather than the bill or joint resolution in its entirety. Constitution provides that the President may either sign a measure into law or veto it in its entirety.

However, constitutions in 43 states provide for an item veto usually confined to appropriation bills , allowing the governor to eliminate discrete provisions in legislation presented for signature.

The first proposal to provide the President with an item veto was introduced in Over the years many bills and resolutions mainly proposed constitutional amendments have been introduced, but action in Congress on item veto proposals, beyond an occasional hearing, has been limited.

In the House approved an item veto amendment to the independent offices appropriations bill by voice vote, but the Senate rejected the amendment. Contemporary proposals for item veto are usually confined to bills containing spending authority, although not necessarily limited to items of appropriation.

Trump also proposed a few solutions to avoid this problem for future spending bills, one of which included Congress giving him the power of a line-item veto. The Supreme Court declared the line-item veto unconstitutional almost 20 years ago. The challenge came during the Clinton administration, after the Congress passed the short-lived Line Item Veto Act of , which gave the president the power to scratch certain items from spending and tax bills.

Clinton used the power 82 times on 11 laws, according to the New York Times. The challenge to the line-item veto came from New York City and its health care and hospital workers, after the president struck down a tax break tied to Medicaid funding; and from Idaho potato farmers, who fought back after Clinton knocked off a beneficial provision in a tax bill. The Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 , in Clinton v. The line-item veto has been something presidents have wanted apparently since at least Ulysses S.

Grant , and many governors do have line-item veto power for appropriations bills in their states. Bush made an attempt in , trying to re-write the law so Congress could override a line-item veto with a simple majority, rather than a two-thirds vote which is needed to override a regular old presidential veto. Obama considered asking in Robert Longley is a U. Facebook Facebook.

Updated April 17, Featured Video. View Article Sources. Cite this Article Format. Longley, Robert. Line-Item Veto: Why the U. Legislative Powers of the President of the United States. What Is Originalism? Definition and Examples. Overview of Rider Bills in Government. Unitary Executive Theory and the Imperial Presidency.

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