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Tag: Appropriations
Congress Expected to Punt on Major Issues
As Congress nears the close of a truncated pre-election session, a series of significant issues have yet to be resolved and are likely to be put off until the post-election lame-duck session. The following is a summary of the most important unfinished business before the House and Senate:
House Passes Line-Item Veto Bill
On February 8, the House approved legislation to allow the President to eliminate specific items from appropriations bill ― otherwise known as line-item veto authority. The authority is one that Presidents of both parties have long sought but ultimately failed to obtain. (See the September 1998 issue of Supreme Court Debates titled “The Line Item Veto ― The President, the Congress, and the Constitution.”) H.R. 3521, the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act, introduced by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan (WI-R) and the panel’s top Democrat, Representative Chris Van Hollen (MD-D), passed the House by a bipartisan…