[Deschler's Precedents]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID:52093c24_txt-20]
[Page 4935-4937]
CHAPTER 24
Bills, Resolutions, Petitions, and Memorials
C. VETO POWERS
Sec. 19. Proposals for Item Veto
There is no express authority under the Constitution for the
President to approve part of a bill and disapprove another part of the
same measure. However, agitation for such authority occasionally has
arisen when measures have been presented to the President for his
approval which included unrelated provisions, some of which did not
have the President's endorsement or support. Members have offered
amendments attempting to include a clause in a bill granting the
President a veto power with respect to an item in that
bill,(19) though the constitutionality of such a proposal
has not been determined, but general executive authority to disapprove
only part of a bill does not exist. Numerous constitutional amendments
have been introduced in the past to grant the President item veto
authority, but these proposals have not been adopted.(20)
Suggestions have also been made that the Congress address,
legislatively, the definition of the term ``bill'' as used in the
Constitution.
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19. See Sec. Sec. 19.1, 19.2, infra.
20. Charles J. Zinn, The Veto Power of the President, House Committee
on the Judiciary, 82d Cong. 2d Sess. (Committee Print 1951), p.
34.
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Item Veto and Executive Authority
Sec. 19.1 To an authorization bill for public works, an amend
[[Page 4936]]
ment vesting item veto power in the President was held to be
germane and in order.
On Mar. 11, 1958,(1) Mr. Donald E. Tewes, of Wisconsin,
offered an amendment to the bill (S. 497) authorizing certain public
works on rivers and harbors for purposes of navigation. The amendment
gave the President authority to veto certain items provided for in the
bill, as follows:
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1. 104 Cong. Rec. 4020, 85th Cong. 2d Sess.
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Sec. 211. For the purpose of disapproval by the President, each
paragraph of each of the preceding sections, shall be considered a
bill within the meaning of article I, section 7, of the
Constitution of the United States, and each such paragraph which is
disapproved shall not become law unless repassed in accordance with
the provisions of section 7, article I, of the Constitution
relating to the repassage of a bill disapproved by the President.
Mr. Frank E. Smith, of Mississippi, raised a point of order against
the amendment on the ground that such language is entirely out of order
on any type of legislation since there is no provision in the
Constitution for an item veto. The Chair (2) responded:
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2. Howard W. Smith (Va.).
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. . . The Chair does not pass upon constitutional questions.
The amendment seems to be pertinent to the bill and relates to the
bill. Therefore, the Chair overrules the point of order.
Sec. 19.2 To an appropriation bill, an amendment proposing to give the
President item veto power was held to be legislation and not in
order.
On May 14, 1953 (3) Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., of
New York, proposed an amendment to the Treasury and Post Office
Appropriation Act of 1954 (H.R. 5174) giving the President item veto
power over each separate appropriation in the bill.
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3. 99 Cong. Rec. 4939, 4940, 83d Cong. Ist Sess.
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Mr. Gordon Canfield, of New Jersey, raised the point of order
against the amendment that it was legislation on an appropriation bill.
The Chairman (4) sustained the point of order on the
grounds that the amendment was legislation upon an appropriation bill.
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4. Louis E. Graham (Pa.).
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Mr. Roosevelt then offered an amendment stating that each section
or item of appropriation in the bill shall be deemed a separate bill
for purposes of approval or disapproval by the President.
Mr. Canfield then raised the same point of order that this point of
order that this amendment was legislation on appropriation bill.
[[Page 4937]]
The Chairman sustained the point of order for that same reason.