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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wayners who wrote (8338)	3/4/2009 4:44:13 PM
From: tntpal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 103300

The U.S. as a post W.W.II Empire is probably about done for - as your outline seems to conclude. The future is going to be interesting...

To: Wayners who wrote (8338)	3/4/2009 10:43:11 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 103300

Feingold, Ryan back presidential line item veto By HENRY C. JACKSON \| Associated Press Writer 12:21 PM CST, March 4, 2009 chicagotribune.com WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan formed an unlikely partnership on Wednesday, coming together to push Congress to pass line item veto legislation. The legislation would give President Barack Obama the power to strike individual items from budget bills. The Wisconsin lawmakers joined Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona at a press conference on Wednesday to introduce the legislation. "This bill is about the need to stop wasteful earmarks especially in this time of economic crisis," Feingold said. "... If Congress won't restrain itself the president should be able to try." McCain was a key backer of previous line item veto legislation. The Supreme Court struck it down in 1998, and previous efforts to pass it did not gain traction. Feingold, Ryan and McCain said Tuesday their bill was tweaked to make it constitutional. Under the legislation, Congress would be able to overrule line item vetoes with a simple majority vote in either chamber. The 1998 legislation did not require congressional approval for the president's line item vetoes to be enacted. McCain said the alterations would ensure the bill passed legal muster but still served as a useful tool in curbing spending. "If the bill were the law of the land, our president, President Obama, wouldn't have to choose between signing or vetoing this omnibus bill. He could clean it up," McCain said. McCain was referring to an Omnibus Appropriations bill that is headed to Obama's desk. It contains more than 8,500 earmarks with an estimated price tag of $7.7 billion. The lawmakers said they want to get their legislation passed before Obama is presented with the spending bill. Ryan said spending issues transcended party lines because earmarks and pork barrel projects have proved tempting to lawmakers in both parties. "Look, neither party has cornered the market on virtue when it comes to spending," said Ryan, who is the ranking member of the House Budget Committee. "... We've got 9,000 earmarks that the House passed last week, $7.7 billion. 4,000 of those earmarks are from Republicans. So it's not as if one party is doing this well and one is not. Both parties have contributed to the mess we have."