Chris Wallace Reminds Mnuchin Trump’s Line-Item Veto Demand Was Ruled Unconstitutional
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called on Congress to offer President Donald Trump a line-item veto in the next federal spending bill, so he can simply deny budget increases for non-military spending — even though the Supreme Court ruled such action is unconstitutional nearly 20 years ago.
The Treasury secretary said on Fox News Sunday with host Chris Wallace that “Congress could pass a rule” allowing Trump to veto certain portions of the next budget, following this week’s passing of the $1.3 trillion omnibus.
“I think they should give the president a line-item veto. These things should be looked at,” Mnuchin said.
Wallace pushed back, informing the secretary his suggestion would be virtually impossible. “That’s been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, sir,” he said, adding it would require much more than just a “rule” for Trump to be able to veto certain aspects of the next bill: “That would be a constitutional amendment.”
“Well, again, Congress could pass a rule, OK, that allows them to do it,” Mnuchin said. “Chris, we don’t need to get into a debate in terms of — there’s different ways of doing this.”
Although Republicans hold a majority in both houses, the federal spending budget requires bipartisan support to make it through Congress and included many aspects Trump and the GOP were not happy with, including nearly $500 million toward Planned Parenthood and just $1.6 billion toward the president’s promise of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump said he “will never sign another bill like this” during the omnibus signing on Friday afternoon, before taking off to Mar-a-Lago. The president later tweeted that he signed the bill “as a matter of national security,” demanding Congress give him a line-item veto for all spending bills.
“My comment is, it’s clear what happened. The Democrats, in order to get us military spending, demanded a massive increase in nonmilitary spending. And the president made the decision this time that that was worth it,” Mnuchin added.
Watch a clip of the interview above, via Fox News Sunday.
[image via screengrab]
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