Scott Kleeb Applauds House Passage of Line-Item Veto; Urges Senate to Pass Bill
Scott Kleeb Applauds House Passage of Line-Item Veto; Urges Senate to Pass Bill
KEARNEY, NE - Scott Kleeb, Democratic congressional candidate for the 3rd district, issued a statement today calling for passage a presidential line-item veto to help reduce irresponsible pork spending.
"I applaud the House for moving to control wasteful spending, and I urge the Senate to follow their lead," Kleeb said. "Spending by the federal government has increased 45 percent in just the last five years. This is an astounding statistic and a clear sign that government spending is out of control."
Under the current budget process, millions and millions of dollars of new spending is approved without ever being discussed, because members of Congress literally sneak pet projects into a larger piece of legislation while no one is looking, Kleeb said. He said the line-item veto power approved by the House last week would give the president the power to bring these pet projects to a vote, so that members of Congress would either have to justify them or see them voted down.
Kleeb cautioned, however, that the current Congress has a track record of increasing spending with little regard for the long-term consequences. He said more public pressure was still needed to get them to change course.
"I support the line-item veto because it has the potential to reduce wasteful spending," Kleeb said. "But, as the president has pointed out, the number of spending earmarks tacked onto legislation at the last minute has gone from 3,000 a year to 13,000 a year over the last decade. This is outrageous behavior by those who should be the guardians of the public treasury. So, even with the line-item veto in place, there is clearly no guarantee that Congress will make the difficult decisions to cut spending.
"This is just a first step," Kleeb said. "If Congress is serious about getting the federal budget under control, then they should move quickly to approve pay-as-you-go legislation."
The current line-item veto bill differs from previous versions in that it requires Congressional approval before the veto of a spending or tax item is made final. "This is an important provision, because it keeps final approval of spending legislation in the hands of Congress," Kleeb said.
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