Congress
ORG
Congress
With Congress heading into a politically perilous budget season, influential House conservatives plan this week to propose an austere alternative spending plan that would pare more than $650 billion over five years, balance the budget and drastically shrink three cabinet agencies. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow warned Congress that the federal government risked default without an increase in the debt limit and that the Republican-controlled Congress would soon be forced to address that issue. Some moderate Republicans are anxious about additional spending reductions, particularly after Congress enacted nearly $40 billion in cuts last year after a difficult fight. Congress gave President Bill Clinton line-item veto authority in 1996, but the Supreme Court overturned the law, saying it violated the Constitution by giving the president the power to amend legislation.  With Congress heading into a politically perilous budget season, influential House conservatives plan this week to propose an austere alternative spending plan that would pare more than $650 billion over five years. The legislation, part of a push by some Republicans to re-establish themselves as champions of fiscal restraint, was taking shape as President Bush asked Congress to grant him line-item veto power to eliminate federal spending that he might judge wasteful. Congress gave President Bill Clinton line-item veto authority in 1996, but the Supreme Court overturned the law, saying it violated the Constitution by giving the president the power to amend legislation.