White House vows to keep pushing for line-item veto bill

The White House will continue to make a major push for Senate passage of the line-item veto, despite vote counts that remain clearly short of the 60 needed for victory and suggestions Wednesday by Senate Budget Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., that the effort was problematic.

"We believe we can get 60 votes," a White House official said Thursday.

The official called on Senate leaders to clarify the procedural issues surrounding the legislation, saying this would help attract support.

Gregg moved through his committee a broad package of budget reforms that included the line-item veto, though Senate leaders might also choose to move the line-item veto bill as a stand-alone measure.

"The ability for us to get the [necessary level of] support would be enhanced if a precise legislative vehicle was identified," the White House official said. "Another way to help get needed support is for the leadership to put a date certain on the calendar for a vote."

Sources with knowledge of Senate whip counts as of last week describe support as being approximately in the mid-40s, well short of the 60 votes needed to curtail debate and vote on passage.

They said support for the line-item veto was not much higher -- if at all -- than backing for the broader Gregg bill. Given this, Gregg has continued to press for consideration of his budget package, the "Stop Over-Spending Act," or "S.O.S. Act."

The private White House tally of support for the line-item veto is higher than the Senate whip count.

Gregg Wednesday acknowledged the measures lack 60 votes and was dismissive of the White House effort.

"I think people have gone back to the White House and said, 'Get us 60 votes and we'll take your position a little more seriously,'" he told reporters.

The White House is widely assumed to prefer moving the line-item veto bill and not the Gregg package, though White House officials are careful not to explicitly insist on this.

Sources said Democrats were nearly united against the bills, with Republican opposition coming mainly from members of the Appropriations and Finance committees. Gregg's line-item veto proposal could be used not only against spending earmarks, but targeted tax breaks as well.

Despite Gregg's apparent pessimism, a senior Senate Republican aide said no final decision has been reached on whether to schedule a vote, pending completion of the White House lobbying effort.

"Part of the process was giving the administration time to count votes and twist arms and come forward to us and tell us what they knew, and then we would make a decision," the Senate aide said. "They were given time to get to 60 on the [line item veto]."

Senate and administration officials described an aggressive effort by Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman -- the administration point man on the issue -- though they said the effort was more "under the radar" than the lobbying he had done for the House-passed line-item bill because of the sensitivity of ongoing talks in the Senate about whether the Gregg package or just the line-item veto would move.

"Director Portman has been working on both sides of the aisle and had calls and meetings with dozens of senators," the White House official said. "Every day, he has a conversation with someone about the line-item veto."

Other White House officials are described as actively involved, including officials from the legislative affairs office and the political shop run by Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove.

Consideration of any of Gregg's measures might be part of what conservative senators believe is a promise by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to devote floor time this year to budget process reforms, made in exchange for an agreement by conservatives to allow a vote in March on raising the debt ceiling.

Sources said members of the conservative Senate Republican Steering Committee this month sent Frist a letter demanding that he schedule the time.

But the senior Republican aide said that with support short for both the line-item veto and the "S.O.S. Act," some in the Conference are resisting the idea.

"There was a thought about doing budget week," he said. "If the votes aren't there, members are arguing to the leadership it's not worth going down in flames and being slaughtered ignominiously on either 'S.O.S.' or [line-item veto]."

An aide to a conservative senator asserted Frist had promised to schedule the time anyway.

"The leader has a proven track record of keeping these sorts for promises, like he did on LIHEAP, native Hawaiians, and stem-cell research," the aide said. "There's no reason to believe this promise will be treated any differently."

The line-item veto itself might face some tricky procedural hurdles, sources said. If the Senate was to take up the House version, senators would likely want to alter it to use the Gregg language, which is somewhat different.

But since the House bill was not passed by the Senate Budget Committee, amendments -- such as a substitute amendment that included the Gregg language -- would be subject to a point of order.

Budget points of order are often more difficult to overcome than filibusters, where members of the majority party can often be convinced to at least go along with the rest of the party and allow a vote on the measure.

An argument being made against Gregg's broader approach is that the "S.O.S." package might be more difficult to move through the House than the line-item veto.