Senate Concurrent Resolution 8 - Introduced PAG LIN 1 1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 1 2 BY BRUNKHORST, ANGELO, McKINLEY, ZIEMAN, HOUSER, 1 3 HAHN, BOETTGER, GASKILL, HORN, MILLER, WOOD, 1 4 SCHOENJAHN, WARNSTADT, ZAUN, and WARD 1 5 A Concurrent Resolution urging the United States 1 6 Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution 1 7 of the United States to create a line item veto power 1 8 for the President of the United States. 1 9 WHEREAS, the American public has long favored the 1 10 line item veto to purge federal government budgets of 1 11 unnecessary spending; and 1 12 WHEREAS, forty=three states have the line item 1 13 veto; and 1 14 WHEREAS, in 1997, Pub. L. No. 140=130 went into 1 15 effect, empowering the President of the United States 1 16 to veto specific spending or certain taxing provisions 1 17 of legislation; and 1 18 WHEREAS, the Act provided the President the 1 19 authority to cancel in whole any dollar amount of 1 20 discretionary budget authority, any item of new direct 1 21 spending, and certain limited tax benefits; and 1 22 WHEREAS, in the single year this budget cutting 1 23 tool was in effect, it was used 82 times to delete 1 24 unnecessary expenditures in 11 spending bills, with 1 25 total savings of nearly $2 billion over five years; 1 26 and 1 27 WHEREAS, on June 26, 1998, the United States 1 28 Supreme Court, in Clinton v. City of New York, 1 29 declared the item veto law to be unconstitutional; and 1 30 WHEREAS, a constitutional amendment granting the 2 1 President line item veto authority will help ensure a 2 2 necessary check on a congressional tradition of 2 3 inserting billions of dollars of unnecessary spending 2 4 into appropriations bills; NOW THEREFORE, 2 5 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF 2 6 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, That the Iowa General 2 7 Assembly respectfully urges the Congress of the United 2 8 States to propose an amendment to the Constitution of 2 9 the United States establishing a line item veto power 2 10 for the President of the United States; and 2 11 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the 2 12 Senate shall forward copies of this Resolution to the 2 13 President of the United States, the President of the 2 14 Senate of the United States, the Speaker of the House 2 15 of Representatives of the United States, and the 2 16 members of Iowa's congressional delegation. 2 17 LSB 2042SS 81 2 18 jr:rj/pj/5 1