The United States Congress is in desperate need of a major overhaul. I spent some time yesterday reading the constitution. I did find that riders and or amendments to legislation are constitutional but a line item veto isn't. I seems it would need a new amendment to accomplish that.
As far as riders or amendments it seems to be left up to congress as to how to implement them. In the House of Representatives riders are not permitted at all and amendments have to be germane to the substance of the original bill. To me this implies that each branch of the congress have equal power to regulate riders and amendments.
In the free-wheeling Senate, it appears any and everything is legitimate. To my way of thinking, the rules should be the same as to amendments in the House. As for riders, only one should be permitted to retain the power of blocking legislation with one unacceptable to the opposition and requiring further negotiation. That would make sense and streamline the legislative process.
I'm certainly no lawyer but there has to be one somewhere smart enough to rewrite the line item veto to enable a president to use it when needed and still pass Supreme Court muster. Such a lawyer could name his own price.
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