Judge Says No to Line-Item Veto

DAILY BRIEFING

Judge Says No to Line-Item Veto

A federal judge today ruled that President Clinton's line-item veto power is unconstitutional.

"The Line-Item Veto Act is unconstitutional because it impermissibly disrupts the balance of powers among the three branches of government," U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan said, according to an Associated Press report.

Hogan's decision came in response to a suit alleging that Clinton unfairly targeted New York City when he canceled a section of an appropriations measure that would have let the city and New York state raise taxes on hospitals and pass those charges along to the federal government in the form of Medicaid billings.

The lawsuit, initiated by New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, involved an estimated $2.6 billion in disputed federal Medicaid payments made to New York hospitals since 1992. The administration contended that the state received too much money and needed to return some of it. Clinton's veto struck a paragraph in the budget bill that would have settled the dispute in New York's favor.

However, Hogan said the act "impermissibly crosses the line between acceptable delegations of rulemaking authority and unauthorized surrender to the president of an inherently legislative function, namely, the authority to permanently shape laws and package legislation."

Clinton exercised the line-item veto power 82 times last year, striking $1.9 billion in spending.

The government is expected to contest the verdict and appeal it to the Supreme Court.