Prodded by Sen. Bob Dole, congressional Republicans ended a nearly yearlong stalemate and agreed Thursday on a version of the line-item veto for the president.
The proposed legislation would shift much of the power of the purse from Congress to the White House. It would give the president the power to remove items from spending bills one by one, rather than vetoing or approving the measure as a whole, as is now the case.The measure's supporters say it would allow the White House to kill pork-barrel projects and specially aimed tax breaks and to influence policy directives by denying money for them.
As has been the case several times in the past few weeks, Dole, the Republican leader and now presumptive presidential nominee, worked behind the scenes to force a compromise on an issue that House and Senate Republicans had not wrapped up, despite the fact that both houses had passed different versions of the measure last year.
Though the line-item veto was a part of the Contract With America, the House Republicans' 1994 campaign manifesto, most conferees were in no hurry to resolve their differences because they were in no hurry to give such a powerful budget weapon to a Democratic president.
House and Senate negotiators are to meet to draft the measure into a bill next week, at which time it will be decided when it would take effect.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has has been one of the leaders of a nearly decadelong fight for the line-item veto, said he expected the bill would call for the veto power to take effect this year.
Asked Thursday to explain the sudden breakthrough after months of bickering over widely differing versions in the House and the Senate, McCain replied, "Senator Dole said he wanted it done."
If the measure becomes law, it would be another legislative accomplishment for Dole to present to voters in the election campaign. But the measure's prospects are uncertain.
Though President Clinton and many Democrats favor the line-item veto, there are many in Congress who oppose it on constitutional or other grounds, including master parliamentary strategist Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.
The Republican leaders were already considering linking the line-item veto to legislation extending the federal government's borrowing authority as a political sweetener to entice Clinton into also accepting some Republican tax cuts.
Under the proposed bill, the president could remove or reduce - but not increase - any numbers from a spending bill. It would require a two-thirds vote by both chambers of Congress to override the veto.
The president could not remove policy provisions, but if the White House objected to a particular policy, the president could simply wipe out the money to pay for it.