Kerry: “Let’s Hold the President’s Feet to the Fire”

John Kerry to Introduce Line-Item Veto Proposal - “Let’s Hold the President’s Feet to the Fire”
March 6th, 2006 @ 1:18 pm

John Kerry has announced he will introduce a Line-Item Veto Proposal to help Bush out with his goal to “weed hometown projects from legislation passed by Congress.”

Below is a statement from John Kerry on President Bush’s call for a line-item veto. Kerry previously proposed a constitutional line-item veto that would allow the President to reduce pork barrel spending and save taxpayers billions of dollars. Under Kerry’s plan the President would identify wasteful items in spending and tax legislation and submit it to Congress to act on in an up-or-down vote.

“It’s no secret that President Bush and I don’t agree on much, but I fully support giving him the line-item veto. I’m going to introduce this legislation, Congress should immediately pass it, and I want to see President Bush use this veto pen to get tough on wasteful spending. Under this Republican-led House and Senate, pork barrel spending has gone through the roof. Nearly $30 billion a year is being spent on projects that have never even been debated. Billions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted on things like research to enhance the flavor of roasted peanuts and the infamous ‘bridge to nowhere.’ We have the largest deficit in American history, and the guys in charge are acting like teenagers with a new credit card.

“Let’s pass this line-item veto, and let’s hold the President’s feet to the fire to make sure that a White House that has never once vetoed anything starts vetoing the incomprehensible waste coming out of this Congress.”

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2151

Got ahead of them, didn't he?

Of course, they do not get it. They dont understand that Bush does not want the line-veto item. He wants an excuse not to veto and not to stop deficit.

Amazing though. Du is getting back to what it was before the Alito filibuster. Posting anything about Kerry and the thread becomes full of attacks irrelated to the subject.

drawing a bunch of them.

http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Kerry_to_introduce_lineitem_veto_bill_0306.html

Hopefully they all stay there as they have nothing meaningful to say.

Raw attracts the worse of the worst on both sides.

Thank you Senator. I adore this move, it's fucking awesome. :rofl:

Okay Rethugs love to tell their adoring fauxbots that they are the party of fiscal responsibility and of 'smaller government.' We, as Dems, all know this is bullshit and these people are the biggest tax and spend bunch in American history. Yet, they still pretend that they care about budgets, which they don't.

This call their bluff. Imagine a line-item veto of Bush against the 'Bridge to nowhere' in Alaska. First of all, Bush pisses of Rep Don Young, Chairman of the House committee that proposed this. And he pisses off Sen. Murkowski and Stevens, cuz they love it when the feds spend money in Alaska. (Alaska now has the highest percentage return of federal dollars to taxes paid in the nation.) All those Rethugs are now pissed at Bush and can no longer think of any reason for why they are in Congress at all, since securing pork is the only reason they are they (well, that and making sure that nothing stops Big Business from pursuing their agenda.)

Okay, now Young gets mad and musters enough troops in Congress (50% + 1 is all it takes) to put the pork back in. There are Democrats on the floor during the debate. They simply get up and say, that $489 million dollars for the 'Bridge to Nowhere' would fund 689 (or so) Pell Grants to needy college students in my district. (Or it would fund XX number of microloans to small businesses in the Katrina-scarred Gulf area. Or whatever.) Republicans are being held accountable for what they do and the Rethugs are being forced to wallow in their own bullshit.

I adore this. Thank you Senator. I knew you were wicked smaht, but this is positively genius. Please play more real hardball, it looks good on you. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Okay, it's like a poker game. Who's bluffing now you Rethug friggin bastids? :rofl:

This is a "no win" situation for Bush. If this goes through, Bush is screwed no matter what he does! The PORK is all Republican pork: if he vetoes, Bush'll be lambasted by the Republicans. If he vetoes anything that helps people, Bush'll be lambasted by the public. If it doesn't go through, Kerry can cry foul and blame Republican big spending and corruption.

Kerry is calling their bluff while at the same time giving Bush enough rope to hang himself with. I'm beginning to wonder if JK was Hannible in a past life, elephants notwithstanding.

and I love the in your face statement as well. The liklihood is that they will just bury it in a comittee and wait for Bush's bill - but if he can get enough people to sign on, I'd love to see McCain's face when he has to decide how to vote. Kerry's called their bluff.

I just hope that Reid and the other leaders see that this could really position the Democrats as the true fiscally sane people and rallies the Democrats behind it - even if it's Kerry's.

:rofl:

It calls them all out, and spells out a clear Dem alternative position at the same time! They'll dodge it and look bad.

Some Senators just react to events; others also work thoughtfully and creatively to make things better. :loveya:

Kerry-watchers will get it, but I think this proposal really highlights his playful side. When I heard it my first reaction was a startled laugh. I agree with you: :loveya:

Bush to Propose Line-Item Veto Legislation

Mon Mar 6, 8:06 AM ET

WASHINGTON -
President Bush plans to send proposed legislation to Congress on Monday that would allow him to control spending by vetoing specific items in larger bills, a Bush administration official said.


The president, who has not vetoed any legislation during five years in office, asked Congress in his State of the Union address to give him line-item veto power.

snip>

Both Republican and Democratic presidents have sought the power to eliminate a single item in a spending or tax bill without killing the entire measure.

President Clinton got that wish in 1996, when the new reform-minded Republican majority in the House helped pass a line-item veto law.

Two years later, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional because it violated the principle that Congress, and not the executive branch, holds the power of the purse.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/line_item_veto

:eyes:

This is good and it could be a lot of fun to watch come about and get the Republicans at their own game.I can see any Democrats having a problem pushing this- it would be a win win situation, IMO.

I can't belive this. Why?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/politics/07spend.html

Probably the same thing for Byrd and Kennedy.

We have that each time a bill is offered that would help curb pork. Many Democrats oppose it. It would be more interesting to see where those Democrats who have said they want to curb pork will fall.

to bring money (aka pork) to their district or state. From all accounts, Kerry was never about getting pork for Massachusetts. The problem really does extent to both parties and at a local level it's lauded as bring jobs etc to the area and it makes the politicians more popular.

How to Use Your Former Opponent’s Proposals When You’re Slipping in the Polls
March 7th, 2006 @ 12:13 am

Earlier today, I reported that John Kerry is supporting Bush’s call for a line-item veto. The MSM has been jumping on the news from the White House today about Bush’s proposal and some have caught on to where the proposal may have originated…

AP News notes:

Kerry on board

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who promoted a similar approach in his presidential campaign against Bush in 2004, immediately jumped on board.

And Reuters adds:

Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who ran against Bush in the 2004, supported the line-item veto proposal, which mirrored one Kerry had previously proposed.

It must suck being a lame duck president with a low approval rate that keeps falling and have to try to gain support from your former opponent’s prosposals. I guess this could be deemed a bit of another Kerry was right moment, but who’s counting?


LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2158

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060306-6.html



Yet almost NO news coverage I've heard mentions this...it is all "Bush has a new proposal to cut pork." Sigh.

Many more than the two I posted.

Kerry makes a funny

really it was. And it will never, never, never pass. But I liked it a lot! :rofl:

I thought it was hilarious. Unfortunately, most of the blogosphere appears to be seriously humor-deficient.

Skull 'n' Bones!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rofl:

She was in the Library for years and years until her books sold well enough to become a full-time writer. She has the Canonical List of Urban Legends about Yale, including S&B. I am going to write to her and ask for it. Then I can go through them one by one with someone who can tell me chapter and verse on this stuff. (And has pics of the place in question as well.) Sigh! I am tired of this bullshit.

It would be just great to have something to shove in the faces of the idiots who keep spouting it like crazed parrots: "Awwk...skull'n'bones, skull'n'bones, awwk"

Found this wonderful response to another comment to Gilliard's post: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/stevenewsblog/114174524762722076/#341469

if only they could see it's BUSH who is opposed to it.