Bush Backs $388 Bln Bill But Wants New (Line-Item) Veto Powers [View All]

[Khephra]

(Reuters) - President Bush on Friday backed the $388 billion price-tag of a bill to finance government programs this fiscal year, despite criticism that it was loaded up with pork-barrel projects.

"Obviously, there's going to be things in these big bills that I don't particularly care for," Bush told reporters near his Crawford, Texas ranch.

But he said: "The bill conforms to the budget that I worked out with the Congress ... the size of the bill is a number that we agreed to earlier this year. And I appreciate that because part of making sure we cut the deficit in half is to work together on the overall size of our spending bills."

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"The only way a president can affect that which is inside the bill, other than vetoing the entire bill, is to be able to pick out parts of a bill and express displeasure about it through a line-item veto. I hope the Congress will give me a line-item veto," Bush said.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=6932230