The House-passed line-item veto bill, which has been endorsed by the White House, is on life support in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
More than four months after the House approved the measure, co-sponsored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and ranking member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the Senate hasn’t touched it.
Both House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) voted for the bill that passed the lower chamber 254-173. The White House said it “strongly supports” that measure, claiming it would help “eliminate unnecessary spending and discouraging waste.”
Shortly following House-passage — with 57 Democrats voting in favor of the bill and 41 Republicans opposing it — Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) offered an identical bill in the upper chamber.
McCaskill’s bill has languished in the Senate’s Budget Committee. Despite interest on the part of other senators such as Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) and Colorado Sen. Mark Udall (D), McCaskill’s bill has no co-sponsors.
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