āgrotesque pork for rich peopleā
Oh hey. I voted for that guy. 
thatās at least a half billion right there.
Heās one of few I can say Iām really, solidly happy to have voted for over the years.
āSmaller Governmentā
āFiscal Responsibilityā
Tell us another one.
We need the line-item veto.
Thank you.
I agree that the 10 things listed here are bad. But calling it a āterrible billā ignores all the good things in it. Itās a compromise, a forgotten concept that we need to bring back to DC. The question is whether the good outweighs the bad. Quoting from the newsletter of liberal MA congressman Michal Capuano:
This legislation provides $1.1 trillion in funding for the federal government through September 30, 2016. Of that, more than $57 billion will support transportation and housing initiatives. This includes the first installment of New Starts money for the Green Line Extension. The legislation reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for three years, establishes an ocean communities research and development grant fund and increase funding for the LWCF by $144 million. It also increases the budget for NASA, while funding important program priorities for Massachusetts
The omnibus increases funding for National Institutes of Health (NIH) research by $2 billion which is a significant increase over previous years. With Massachusettsā high concentration of teaching hospitals, laboratories and research facilities, this additional money will have a measurable impact on our local economy. The omnibus fully funds the Presidentās request of $819 million for cybersecurity initiatives, including efforts to secure civilian networks and prevent cyberattacks. It also increases the maximum Pell Grant award for the next academic year.
I did have concerns about some of the provisions in this omnibus bill. However, as with the tax extenders legislation, I had to balance the positive aspects with the negative.
But the thing is is that this bill was in no fucking way a ācompromiseā bill. It was take it or leave it, suckers!. That said, yes there actually are good things in it (such as for wind and solar). But compromise? Nu-uh!
The compromising happened while the bill was being crafted.
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By which you mean that while crafting it, Paul Ryan was happy to compromise the American people?
This! Republicans basically throw a bunch of batshit insane lunacy out there (i.e. Defunding Planned Parenthood, et al) as well as their extremely damaging to the 99% agenda items. Then, when they agree to take the batshit out, people will call this nonsense a ācompromise.ā Itās infuriating.
Terrible idea that would give the President far too much power. How would a line-item veto be crafted to allow for vetoing items unrelated to the main bill while leaving relevant riders safe? How would relevance be defined?
Not to mention the extreme unlikelihood of ā of Congress voting to restrict its own powers and then getting Ā¾ of the states to ratify the Constitutional amendment, which is what it would have to be.
A marginally more likely scenario is a reform of Congressional rules and practices around attaching shit to omnibus bills at the last minute with no time for debate or vote. But the line-item veto is a non-starter. Iād expect to see an end to the Electoral College first, and that aināt happening any time soon.
The whole rider idea has to go. Iām less pissed off that I have to show an ID to get allergy medicine, than that it came into law as a rider on the Patriot Act. Any time there is a bill that looks like it canāt fail, Congress Critters tack all sorts of unrelated crap onto it.
The worst is when the rider is a rerun of something that failed on its own merits.
That is a common tactic though. I have this idea that is so unpopular that it keeps getting shot down, so why donāt I just have it ride in on the coat tails of something else that no one will vote against?
Itās extremely unlikely, but a line item vet could be a very good idea. You could even moderate it by allowing congress to over ride a line item veto with a simple majority. That would cut the amount of crud that get shoveled into bills because itās attached to something that will pass without question.
give[s] the President far too much power.
How so? A Line Item Veto is a āsubtractiveā power ā i.e. it can only remove items that have already been proposed by Congress. Now in the pathological case where the President approves only riders and not the main bill ā you have both the Legislative AND Executive branches to blame. Personally Iād like this possibility of a ācabal of conspiracyā with both the Congress and the President ā and the probable resulting political backlash ā vs. the alternative of consistent Congressional deadlock. In the cases where the President and Congress are for the same ā possibly wacky ā things the laws will most likely be overturned.
43 State Legislators allow the Line Item Veto. I see no evidence this cases the States to implode.
