Line-Item Veto Would Be a More Enduring Tool With Which To Cut Waste Than Trump’s Government Efficiency Department

Presidents of both parties have since before the Civil War sought a line-item veto to enable them to end individual parts of a spending bill without rejecting the entire thing.

AP/Evan Vucci
Elon Musk jumps on the stage as President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Butler, Pennsylvania. AP/Evan Vucci

President Trump is appointing two businessmen, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE. Its goal is to cut wasteful spending. Rather than adding a new bureaucracy to shrink the existing one, though, why not go for a line-item veto as the more constitutionally logical  solution — one that would ensure that the goal of fiscal responsibility endures long after Trump’s term expires.

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