Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Death to the line item veto

I've waffled on whether I like the line item veto or not. I've decided that I really do dislike it and I wish to see it go away, although a push is on to get the Senate to consider the version the House passed.

The idealist in me says that this is a wonderful tool to fight unnecessary spending, and a great executive branch check on the legislative branches spending. The idealist in me says that the executive branch will use this to reign in an out of control Congress.

The the realist in me beats the hell out of the idealist in me.

If you give a branch of government a new power, it will find ways to misuse it. I guarentee that the executive will find a way to abuse even this weakened line item veto. I cannot trust them not to do so. Therefore, I cannot support the line item veto.

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