Expediated Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the bipartisan Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act. As a member of the Budget Committee and a cosponsor, I would like to thank Chairman Ryan and Ranking Member Van Hollen for their work and cooperation.

I support a line-item veto because congressional appropriations and spending oversight is broken. They're broken. Almost every year appropriation bills are rolled into one massive package at the end of the year with little opportunity to review, debate, or amend the provisions. That means Members have little ability to eliminate a wasteful expenditure or program.

This past year was a perfect example. Despite the expressed desire of Speaker Boehner that we would have open debate and open amendments on every appropriations bill, that did not happen. Instead, the bills were rolled into one huge package in the eleventh hour, released with, as I think Ranking Member Van Hollen said, 15 hours to review, and then Members were asked to provide an up-or-down vote. We had little ability or no ability to amend the bill. That is not how it is supposed to work.

The Congress must endeavor to effectively exercise its responsibilities and scrutinize every appropriation and be able to debate and amend expenditures. The logrolling of appropriations bills that has become common practice undermines confidence in Government and permits wasteful spending to squeak through.

Under this bipartisan line-item veto bill, we will establish a new layer of accountability in the budget process. The President, whether it is a Republican or a Democrat, will have a new critical look at a spending provision, a potential veto or veto of that provision, but then it will come back to the Congress, and then we can debate it and vote on it in the light of day up or down.

Mr. Chairman, so far this congressional session has been described as a particularly difficult one, and it was highlighted by difficult debates of last year, and then we ended the year with a big appropriations package we were asked to vote on at the last minute with no review practically and no ability to amend it. So I have to say that it is refreshing that we can bring a bipartisan bill to the floor of the House that we agree on. Reform with a line-item veto bill today, hopefully the STOCK Act tomorrow.

I urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan line-item veto bill and demonstrate to the American public that the Congress can work again.

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