Russell Feingold in Obama Q+A at the 2010 House Republican retreat

On Government Reform: Create a constitutional version of the line-item veto

Rep. RYAN: You've said that you want to take a scalpel to the budget and go through it line by line. We want to give you that scalpel. I have a proposal with my home state senator, Russ Feingold, bipartisan proposal, to create a constitutional version of the line-item veto. Problem is, we can't even get a vote on the proposal. Would you support a line-item veto in helping us get a vote on it in the House?

Pres. OBAMA: I think there's not a President out there that wouldn't love to have it. And I think that this is an area where we can have a serious conversation. I don't like being held up with big bills that have stuff in them that are wasteful but I've got to sign because it's a defense authorization bill. One thing that you have to acknowledge, is that the earmarks problem is not unique to one party and you end up getting a lot of pushback when you start going after specific projects of any one of you in your districts. But I am willing to have a serious conversation on the line-item veto issue.

Source: Obama Q&A at 2010 House Republican retreat in Baltimore Jan 29, 2010

The above quotations are from Obama Q+A at the 2010 House Republican retreat. Click here for other excerpts from Obama Q+A at the 2010 House Republican retreat. Click here for other excerpts by Russell Feingold. Click here for a profile of Russell Feingold.
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