House passes line item veto

From the AP:

President Bush would receive greater power to try to kill "pork barrel" spending projects under a bill passed Thursday by the House.

Lawmakers voted to give Bush and his successor a weaker version of the line-item veto law struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998, despite a recent series of lopsided votes in which they've rallied to preserve each other's back-home projects. The new power would expire after six years.

The idea advances amid increasing public concern about lawmakers' penchant for stuffing parochial projects into spending bills that the president must accept or reject in their entirety.

On the surface, I can get on board with this line item veto. What concerns me are any unintended consequences that may prove difficult to undo. This veto is weak enough that it should prove difficult to misuse, but I never put it past a dedicated politician to pervert otherwise good laws.