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Feingold introduces aggresive deficit-reduction bill

jackalope

jackalope

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Feingold introduces aggresive deficit-reduction bill
By Tony Romm - 10/20/09 12:32 PM ET

(snip ... ) His bill -- the Control Spending Now Act -- is comprised of about 40 other deficit-reduction efforts previously introduced by congressional Democrats and Republicans. Among other changes, it would return unspent bank rescue money to the Treasury, revive the president's ability to strike unnecessary spending from bills that reach his desk, severely curtail Congress' earmark authority and bring pay-as-you-go to the Senate.

(snip ... ) Feingold's overhaul would also re-introduce a bill he authored with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to restore the president's line-item veto power -- an ability the Supreme Court stripped from President Bill Clinton years ago. Ryan, however, maintains his proposal is constitutional, and Feingold expects it would save the government billions.

more ...

Feingold introduces aggresive deficit-reduction bill - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
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Russ Feingold is always interesting to me. I wonder what will happen with this bill in the Senate? I find the introduction of PayGo, and the line-item veto most interesting of the measures mentioned in the article, although the article says the bill has about 40 other deficit reduction measures.
 
PayGo would be a welcome change, but the line-item veto will never pass. And even if it did, the Supreme Court would strike it down again.
 
Kandahar said:
PayGo would be a welcome change, but the line-item veto will never pass. And even if it did, the Supreme Court would strike it down again.
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IA on PayGo.

I think they structured it with the Supreme Court concerns in mind. I don't recall all the details of why Ryan and Feingold think it would pass constitutional muster, but I know they do. Feingold is a constitutional stickler, so I think they probably did try to craft the legislation to avoid challenges.

Sorry so general, I just can't recall specific details.
 
A lot of those proposals sound like good ideas.

As to the line-item veto portion, there are several ways they could design it such that it would pass constitutional scrutiny. It looks like the method they're talking about is simply another version of what Bush requested:

Bolten explained that the proposed Act would give the president the ability to single out “wasteful” spending and to put such spending on hold. While the spending line-item is on hold, the president can send legislation to Congress to rescind the particular line-item. The proposal would then be considered in both houses within ten days on an up or down basis, and could be passed by a simple majority. Additionally, such proposals could not be filibustered.

When asked how this proposed legislation was different from the 1996 Line Item Veto Act that was found unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, Bolten said that whereas the former act granted unilateral authority to the Executive to disallow specific spending line items, the new proposal would seek Congressional approval of such line-item vetoes. Thus, for the president to successfully rescind previously enacted spending, a simple majority of Congress is required to agree to specific legislation to that effect.
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or
Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) started legislation to enact a limited version of the line-item veto. This would give the president the power to rescind earmarks of new bills by sending the bill back to Congress minus line-item vetoed earmark. Congress would then vote on the line-item vetoed bill with a majority vote under fast track rules to make any deadlines the bill had.
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Line-item veto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From my perspective, another possible solution would be to organize spending bills such that each expenditure is (at least nominally) its own bill. That way, when the president is presented with the bills, he can sign the ones he likes and veto the ones he doesn't. Provided that they could make it work logistically, it would avoid all of the presentment clause issues.
 
RightinNYC said:
A lot of those proposals sound like good ideas.

As to the line-item veto portion, there are several ways they could design it such that it would pass constitutional scrutiny. It looks like the method they're talking about is simply another version of what Bush requested:
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Thx, interesting info. Ryan is a serious legislator; I hope they manage to get something thru.
 
Glad to see this Jack. It is a good thing to see additional efforts being undertaken to reduce wasteful spending.
 
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