A Wisconsin Congressman wants to help cut the federal deficit by trying to shine a light on pork slipped into spending bills.
Legislation from U.S. Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) would give the president line item veto authority over appropriations bills, allowing him to remove discretionary spending items out of bills and send them back to Congress for an up or down vote.
Currently the president has to decide whether to approve or veto the entire bill, which Ryan says allows a lot of wasteful spending to go through. He believes the line item veto will having a chilling effect on people “playing these games in Congress” and will “embarrass a lot of the pork out of these spending bills that has gone on for far too long.”
Despite having bipartisan support from the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Ryan admits the proposal faces an uphill battle. He says there are many people who like the status quo. However, Ryan says the American people clearly want to see the culture of spending in Washington changed and this would help accomplish that goal.
Spending cut using the line item veto would go towards reducing the federal deficit.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (1:03)
