President Clinton, the first chief executive with the power to do so, will delete individual items from the carefully constructed budget and tax-cut plans enacted barely a week ago, aides said Sunday.
Clinton skipped church services Sunday to ponder his pending vetoes, which he expects to be immediately challenged in court. White House spokeswoman Anne Luzzatto would not say whether Clinton spent his time consulting with aides or reviewing his options in private.Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said on television Clinton will strike items "on both the spending and the tax sides of the budget." He would not say what would be vetoed, deferring to a presidential announcement.
By using the line-item veto in this way, Clinton not only becomes the first U.S. president to exercise it but also sends notice to Congress that he will do it again if amendments that displease him are tacked onto spending bills.
Presidents have sought line-item veto authority since Ulysses S. Grant in the 1870s. Clinton is the first to get it, under a law passed by the Republican-controlled Congress that took effect Jan. 1.
"He will use (the veto) with the view that by doing so, he can create a useful and, I think, potentially very strong deterrent to people," Rubin said on ABC-TV's "This Week." "He has thought this through with enormous care."
There are precious few places in the budget and tax plans where Clinton can flex his newfound power. Only a handful of 79 special-interest tax breaks in the $152 billion tax-cut bill are eligible. Some have been ruled out as necessary or previously agreed in budget negotiations.
Among spending items, a small policy aspect of the Medicaid program has been identified as veto-eligible. White House aides say such a provision would be vetoed only if it is inconsistent with administration policy, is flawed and was not negotiated. On Friday, an administration official added the stipulation that the president must consider the provision "problematic enough" to warrant a veto.
Rahm Emanuel, senior adviser to the president, said Sunday that Clinton has thoroughly reviewed the "economic, budgetary and fiscal im-pli-ca-tions" of any potential veto. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Emanuel also refused to say which items would be vetoed or whether they involved substantial amounts of money.
While denying that Clinton is employing the veto for political sport, Emanuel said the president's actions will clearly communicate to Congress "that business as usual is over in Washington."
"It also says . . . that we have to do things that set our fiscal house in order and set our priorities as a country," Emanuel said.
Opponents of the line-item veto have promised a constitutional challenge as soon as Clinton uses his new authority for the first time.
In June, the Supreme Court turned back a challenge filed by six members of Congress. The justices said the legislators lacked proper legal standing to sue but made clear the law could be challenged by anyone affected once the president exercises his new authority.
Opponents of the line-item veto argue that it improperly shifts power from Congress to the president. Proponents say the president needs authority to strike down specific items within bills to weed out pork barrel spending.
On ABC, Rubin would not discuss whether a veto is planned for one item under review, which would defer taxes on the sale to a farmer-owned cooperative of a sugar beet processing facility. The plant is owned by Texas businessman and influential Republican contributor Harold Simmons.
"I think that (Simmons) and all others will discover their state of mind tomorrow when he makes his decisions," Rubin told ABC.
Congress estimates the bill would cost $84 million over five years because other companies would take advantage of the tax break.