The End Of Pork?

I seriously doubt this bill will do what lawmakers want. What will happen is, Bushco or successors will try to kill riders which shouldn't be killed and the pork will continue to flow.

President Bush would receive greater power to try to kill "pork barrel" spending projects under a bill passed Thursday by the House.

Lawmakers voted to give Bush and his successor a weaker version of the line-item veto law struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998, despite a recent series of lopsided votes in which they've rallied to preserve each other's back-home projects. The new power would expire after six years.

The idea advances amid increasing public concern about lawmakers' penchant for stuffing parochial projects into spending bills that the president must accept or reject in their entirety.

The House passed the bill by a 247-172 vote. Thirty-five Democrats joined with most Republicans in voting for the bill; 15 Republicans opposed the measure and others voted for the bill despite private reservations.

The measure must still pass the Senate, and that's by no means a certainty.

Someone will tack on a desperatly needed piece of legislation on a bill that is assured passage but which Bushco would refuse to allow if it were a bill in its own right.

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