Budget

Obama drafts spending cut bill

If President Obama has his way, Congress will give him and his successors the authority to offer his own package of specific cuts to spending bills.

Federal News Network Staff

May 24, 2010 4:29 pm

1 min read

wfedstaff | June 3, 2015 6:32 am

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By Max Cacas
Reporter
Federal News Radio

If President Obama has his way, Congress will give him and his successors the authority to offer his own package of specific cuts to spending bills.

As Federal News Radio has been telling you, a budget show down could take place soon on Capitol Hill.

The proposed law would give the White House a minimum of two months to review spending bills that have been signed into law, with the goal of eliminating excess pork-barrel projects, and other questionable items.

The president’s proposed cuts would then be sent to Congress for an up or down vote.

Peter Orszag, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, says the measure has been drafted to avoid constitutional challenges.

He says that while previous efforts at a line-item veto focused on the President making the final decision, the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010 would force lawmakers to cast the final vote on any changes.

Senate Democrats filibustered a similar idea when introduced by President Bush in 1996, after the House approved the measure.

House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) says he will formally introduce the bill later this week on Capitol Hill.

Hear Max with analysis on DorobekInsider.