EDITORIAL
New veto power
needed\ overdue
The Senate parsed a bill last week which could moan
n now and potentially more cost-effective way of doing
business in Wsshi'ig!4*?
That bill is the line-item veto.
The line-item veto, which has been sought by various
representatives and senators for years, gives the presi
dent the right to veto individual items spending in a bill,
commonly railed “lino items *
It has boon argued that a lino-item veto disturbs the
balance of power between the legislative and executive
branches of government. However, the truth is that the
benefits of this new veto outweigh the possible nega
tives suggested by opponents.
The line-item veto will promote fiscal responsibility
in Congress The object of the bill is not to give the exe< -
utivo brant h sweeping new powers, but to give the pres
ident the power to eliminate wasteful or unneeded
spending. The president, as goes the logic, doesn't have
the same kind of political pressure from constituents
that senators anti representatives do and can look more
impartially at spending items than can others
Members of Congress will no longer have reason to
sneak unnecessary or inflated funding measures into a
bill for folks back home in tin* hope that the president
will look past it and sign the entire bill Into law. With
a line-item veto, the president need only veto the one
line in the bill, rather than the entire bill as has been
previously required
Although the bill was brought up in a Republican
controlled Congress, it is important to note that a line
item veto is not a Republican issue, but one of fiscal
responsibility Rather than disrupt the system of < hecks
and balances as they had been envisioned when the
Constitution was written, this system adds a muc h
needed choc k — individual items of funding that Con
gress passes will undergo a final review by the presi
dent.
It is true that, some day in the future, the line-item
veto could become more of a partisan weapon than a
cost-cutting tool. A president can, theoretically, veto
an item for any reason and that could translate into cut
ting Out spending for political rather than fiscal reasons.
That would Ihi unfortunate and beyond the spirit of the
line item veto, but that is a risk that must be taken when
additional powers are given to other branches of gov
ernment. Tire tool now given to the executive branch
must be used wisely and with discretion.
The line-item veto, already enjoyed by most state gov
ernors, Is long overdue for the president. If used to elim
inate wasteful spending, it has the potential to eliminate
billions of dollars annually of waste of taxpayer dollars
Who could disagree with something that simple?
The line-item veto will he a powerful new tool that
will, if used as has berm proposed, f>e a positive and use
ful new weapon in the fight against wasteful federal
spending.
Oregon Doily
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■ OPINION
Spring break in Troutdale means TV
Robbi* Rhvls
With the beginning of spring
term, it's time for everyone to
snap out of the spring break
daze and into tin* sober reality of
the new term
Damn.
When many people 1 know
talked about spring break venter
day visions were evoked of
some tropical paradise with Hit
degree weather and blinding
sun. usually complete with
palm trees and drinks Invari
ably. the sun tan was indicative
of a destination of Tahiti or
Mexico, if not a nuclear fireball.
1. on the other hand, spent my
spring break on the cheap Sit
ting at home in a little town
c alled Troutdale — somewhere
near the distant edge of civilisa
tion in the Portland area — I
soaked up a different kind of
radiation, the TV.
The wav I figure, we're all get
ting c ancer in the long run am -
wav. plus it was spring break,
when all cerebral thought is
optional, so 1 vegetated I'm
proud of it. too,
A friend here at the Emerald
(who. for the purpose of retain
ing intac t his/her image, will
remain nameless) reintroduc ed
me to the world of trashy teiev i
sion talk shows
1 used to glance at them years
ago, wav ba< k in the pioneering
days of Geraldo After all. who
c an forget the time that Geraldo
got his nose bashed by a c hair in
a fight on TV7
Times have changed, a* l have
now realized Instead of broken
noses being adventurous, guests
on talk shows are being mur
dered, as a recent interviewee
on the /film-Jours show recent
ly realized
I couldn't even count the
number of new shows, but from
the look* of a couple of them,
Oprah. I’lnl and Sally look like
they could he nominated for
sainthood.
However, to give equal credit
where it is due. the zillions of
other losers with talk shows
during the day are quite creative
in topics for their shows and
even more so in finding guests
in fact, one such show had a
man with a rup piece about the
fallopian tubes.
Enough said. It'll he another
five years before I watch that
allow again.
Tuning through tin* dial,
being the political junkie that I
am (compounded by the fact
that spring break lasts all of nine
davsl. i caught up on Congress
with a tom h of ( SPAN
('-SPAN, of course, is that net
work where live proceedings of
Congress are broadcast to the
world 1 tend to think of it as
America airing its dirty laundry
to the world
I tuned in for part of the
debate on welfare reform This
is the debate where, as some
might have seen, some Republi
cans compared welfare recipi
ents to alligators and wolves,
while opposing Democrats, a!
times, m reamed. "Si! down and
shut up!" to the Republicans
This, my friends, is the
democracy that we brag to the
res! of the w orld a!>uut Only in
America would we actually
broadcast it. And 1 thought that
I was watching some sort o! sick
comedy.
It was clear that it was time to
reach for the remote Actually,
after (" SPAN. I think that I
dived, si reaming, (or it
Ah, the next channel was
quite a find. Unfortunately,
Emerald rules prohibit me from
mentioning any more, specifi
cally the fact that 1 spent a total
of 10 hours of my spring break
watching certain legal proceed
ings from the state of (California
But then again, if I did tell
you that I saw the ex-football
star intently watching testimony
from the Los Angeles detective
and the long-blond-haired brain
less friend of the defendant. I'd
probably be strung up by most
of the people reading this, not to
mention the Emerald staff But
if you have any doubt as to who
I'm talking about, turn on CNN
It s on for five or six hours a day
But as bad as all of this can (a*,
it couldn't l>e anywhere near as
had os the news 1 caught a little
of (CNN and enough of the
Today Shun to see that Jane
Pauley left But from nerve gas
being spread in Tokyo to several
gasbag presidential < andidates
laying the groundwork for their
stab at the presidency, 1 deter
mined that 1 prefer to live in the
land of the unreal. After all,
that's why I live in Troutdale
and watch the tube during
spring break
As you can see. spring break
isn't all bad in Troutdale. After
catching up on all of the trash
on television in the time allot
ted. 1 fool reborn, tike a new man
of sorts. Or, at least, until the in
room i able TV installation is
completed in the dorms
Here's to another break in
front of the tube!
Robbie Reeves is the editorial
editor for the Emerald
■ LETTERS POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print alt letters
containing comments on topics of interest to the University
community.
The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or
style.