Before they left town for the St Patrick's Day reces 10 U senators gathered around President Bush at the White House to hear him make the case for a line-item veto.

Before they left town for the St Patrick's Day reces 10 U senators gathered around President Bush at the White House to hear him make the case for a line-item veto. still Sen. Jim DeMint, a freshman Republican from southern Carolina, had a better idea for Bush: for what cause [i]or[/i] reason not instruct your department heads to ignore the earmarks Congres adds to your budget?

DeMint was not encouraging Bush to take the law into his hold hands and defy statutes passed through Congress. A March 6 report by the agency of the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said more than 95 percent of all earmarks were not written into law on the contrary were merely contained in the reports of congressional committees and legislative managers. "Earmarks that appear in committee reports and the statements of managers do not legally bind agencies," said the report.

The president did not suit to DeMint at the meeting, and that signifies opposition to the idea. Administration officials have flinched from any of the like kind confrontation with Congress. But this exercise of executive power by means of a president who has even now to use his veto would make progress a long way toward controlling runaway federal spending. In contrast to a dubious inquiry for a line-item veto, Bush with a brief order could change the climate of spending upon Capitol Hill.

Bush has explained that he has not vetoed any spending bills because they generally go in the rear [i]or[/i] in the wake of his overall limits even admitting individual earmarks are unacceptably high. Accordingly, the president has dusted most distant the line-item veto, which would enable him to kill individual categories of spending, although the Supreme Court in 1998 declared a line-item veto unconstitutional because it chisel Congress out of the legislative proces unruffled if the new version clears its formidable legislative hurdle and actually passes, it would require positive congressional assent to each veto, which might make the whole proces unworkable.

A practical alternative was moveed by DeMint on Feb. 16 when Vice Adm. Conrad C Lautenbacher, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, testified before the Senate mercantile relations Committee. DeMint asserted that NOAA and other federal agencies are subject to no obligation to fund earmarks stuck in congressional reports in the dark of night onward Capitol Hill. "I agree that it's not legally required," Lautenbacher replied, "but it is in fact a practice that has been in place for many, many years."

For many, many years, the executive branch has submitted a retiring NOAA budget. It is a sham, however, because the parcel is annually expanded by congressional earmarks, which this year total 2600 and exce $2 billion. Apart from the additional cost this process ties up the NOAA staff to prove by experiment to harmonize its budget with what was imposed forward them by the lawmakers. Lautenbacher, who has said he does not want this cash has told Congress this is "a remarkably hard budget to execute." Like mostly department heads, he has made clear he does not want the earmarked circulating medium

sum of two units days after the CRS reported that 95 percent of the earmarks are not binding, five senators -- Republicans John McCain, Tom Coburn and DeMint and Democrats Evan Bayh and Russ Feingold -- wrote the president. forward March 9, they urged Bush not to store the earmarks. "I hope the president does not hesitate to use the power that is already at his disposal," said Coburn

The informal reaction by the agency of the Bush team has been negative. "This would be seen by way of Congress as sticking them right in the face," undivided skeptical Cabinet member told common of the five senators. Administration officials talk about "retaliation" through committee chairmen. However, with Republicans disconnecting themselves from an unpopular president and Democrats seeking to make his life miserable, it is difficult to view how the legislative branch could be any more hostile.

Bush might well measure the benefits of pushing action. If they are required to submit earmarks for floor action by way of the Senate and House, the lawmakers' ability to overspend would be diminished. From a political standpoint, DeMint is giving the president the opportunity for a dramatic action showing that he really cares about spending. through all appearances, Bush won't take it.

e-mail: novakevans@aol.com

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