Quote:
Originally posted by ubertuber
Can anyone explain to me why the President of the US does not have a line item veto with which he/she could excise pork projects.
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Legally, because the Constitution does not grant him this power. I believe that the Supreme Court said something to this effect several years ago.
In practice, a line-item veto would prevent parties from reaching compromise in the drafting of legislation, because the president could take away all the concessions made to the opposing party during the drafting of legislation. It would give the president too much power over congress.
It would be nice if there were such a simple problem to the pork problem, but line-item veto invites as much trouble as it solves.