Professors: Clinton's line-item veto does not hold much power, may be short-lived

Editor's Note: This is the second in a three-part series about issues President Clinton will face during his second term. This story focuses on the line-item veto.

In his second term, President Bill Clinton will have a privilege that other presidents only dared to dream about -- the power of the line-item veto. However, a group of legislators are hoping to outlaw the bill before the president has a chance to use it.

The line-item veto gives the president the right to eliminate specific spending or tax items from bills that reach his desk. The bill became law on Jan. 1, but a federal suit filed by six members of Congress has delayed its enactment.

Should the bill survive the court challenge, Clinton would most likely hope to use this power when the new Congress' appropriations bills are passed, said Michael Berkman, associate professor of political science.

After Congress passes a piece of legislation such as a tax bill, it is sent to the president for his signature. Under the new law, however, the president has the right to eliminate certain items from the bill and send them back to Congress as a package within 20 days of their original passage.

Congress can then have a limited debate of ten hours on the bill, during which time no amendments are allowed. With a simple majority vote, Congress can send the vetoed items back to the president. If a simple majority does not vote for the items, they are taken out of the bill. If a simple majority is reached, the items vetoed by the president go back to his desk.

If the president chooses to veto the items again, Congress needs a two-thirds majority to override the veto and keep the items in the bill. If a two-thirds majority is not reached, the items are taken out of the bill.

Berkman said before the line-item veto bill was passed, the president's only option was to veto an entire bill if there was one section he disliked.

The bill also outlaws the insertion of non-emergency spending in emergency spending bills and includes a provision that money saved by cutting previous spending be set aside for deficit reduction efforts.

"The amount of real spending that is likely to be affected by this power is likely to be small," said Robert Spitzer, professor of political science at the State University of New York-Cortland and author of the books The Presidential Veto and President and Congress. This is because the line-item veto can only be used to eliminate dollar amounts of discretionary budget spending and new direct spending, Spitzer said. The president's new veto power can be used to limit tax cuts that benefit only small numbers of people, he added.

President Clinton is in favor of the line-item veto. In a speech after the bill's passage, he said the line-item veto would "ensure that our public resources are put to the best possible uses during these times of tight budgets."

Opponents of the line-item veto legislation say it is unconstitutional because it takes power away from Congress and places it in the hands of the executive branch.

Spitzer says the line-item veto is an example of symbolic politics, meaning it sounds like a good idea but probably will not work. Six legislators have already filed a lawsuit against the bill. Berkman said the courts will probably rule on it once they get a specific case.

Spitzer said the Supreme Court should be ruling on the line-item veto in the coming months.

"The odds are better than fifty-fifty that this will be declared unconstitutional," he said.

Spitzer also said opponents of the line-item veto are pointing to Article I, Section VII of the U.S. Constitution, which concerns the president's veto rights. Critics of the bill say the Constitution gives the president the right to pass or veto entire bills, not just portions of bills.

Line-item veto critics say a constitutional amendment, not just a law, is necessary for the line-item veto to be legal, Spitzer said.

The line-item veto was first introduced in the 1870s and Congress considered similar bills more than 200 times before one was finally passed in 1995 as part of the Republicans' Contract with America. The bill was sponsored by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and 29 Senate cosponsors.

Republicans had been pushing for the line-item veto since the Reagan administration, Berkman said.