Line-item veto might hitch ride on lobbying overhaul bill

House Republican leaders might attach language granting presidential line-item veto authority to legislation overhauling lobbying practices, lawmakers and aides said Thursday. That measure is expected to reach the floor before the Easter recess.

Leaders in both chambers quickly embraced President Bush's call to restore line-item veto and "enhanced rescission" powers when the White House sent up a legislative proposal earlier this week. House conservatives, led by Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana see the lobbying bill as a logical vehicle for the line-item veto, which they have long backed as a useful tool to eliminate earmarks in spending bills.

"I've always said it's not enough to change the way lobbyists spend their money; we've got to change the way we spend the money of the American people," Pence said Thursday. "By dealing with earmark reform and maybe line-item veto in the lobbying bill, we can legitimately change the way we spend the people's money."

A House GOP leadership aide confirmed that line-item veto authority would likely be included in the lobbying bill. Under Bush's proposal, the president could propose canceling targeted provisions in tax or spending bills and transmit the changes as a package to Congress for an up-or-down vote.

The Supreme Court struck down similar authority in 1998, but with one key difference: that law did not require congressional approval for a presidential line-item veto.

House Republicans also are considering a mechanism to allow members to strike provisions that appear in conference reports without prior debate, as well as increased transparency rules for earmark sponsors, similar to language in the Senate lobbying overhaul bill. The focus in the House remains on appropriations bills, although appropriators are fighting to have that broadened to encompass other tax and spending legislation.

Those provisions have broad support in the House, and might also be attached to the House lobbying bill, although a budget process overhaul package also under consideration is another possible vehicle.

"House members must be able to call for an up-or-down vote on individual earmarks at a time in the process that is meaningful," Pence said.

House GOP leaders could lose support from some party members, however, by including line-item veto authority in the lobbying bill. A budget process bill containing enhanced rescission authority was voted down on the House floor two years ago.

Momentum for an agreement on lobbying rules already suffered a blow this week, when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was forced to pull that chamber's version from the floor after failing to achieve cloture to cut off debate. That bill's fate is unclear, given a crowded floor schedule next week and the St. Patrick's Day recess the following week.

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, an Appropriations Committee member, is taking the lead for the panel in working on earmark issues with the Republican Study Committee and other party factions. While transparency and new rules against new provisions appearing in unamendable conference reports were gaining steam, he said the line-item veto would be a non-starter for him and probably an "overwhelming majority" of appropriators.

"The other thing they're thinking about doing that they would like to put in there is the enhanced rescission, or line-item veto, and if they do that I vote against it in a heartbeat," Simpson said. "I can't vote for either the enhanced rescission or line-item veto, because it's fundamentally giving away Congress's authority to the administrative branch of government."

Simpson said the problem with earmark reforms, aside from ceding authority to the White House, is one of definition. The Bush administration has its own spending priorities, he noted. "This president hasn't vetoed one [bill]. The reason ... is he's represented in the conference committees just as much as the House and Senate," Simpson said. "It's not like he's sitting out here in the blue."