Rescission

The Obama Administration has cannily taken up a Bush Administration proposal for a kind of line-item veto called "Rescission." The Republicans in the House voted overwhelmingly for it in 2006, when they controlled the house, with 35 Dems joining them. It never got a Senate vote.

"Rescission" is a rule that is probably constitutional. It does not violate the "presentment" clause as the line-item veto did. What Rescission does is create a special rule of both houses that allows the President to immediately submit to an up-or-down vote of both houses (*w/o filibuster*) a single chosen set of cuts (or "rescissions") to any spending bill that he has just signed. It really clears a procedural hurdle rather than creating a new substantive constitutional right in the executive. For bargaining purposes, this is a powerful tool, as it allows a simple majority to cancel a "deal" it has just made with a minority in the Senate to pass legislation. Its stated purpose is to remove earmarks. The hope is to trap Republicans into voting for the plan again. It may just work.