Powermad

Hey, at least he's asking this time.

President Bush on Saturday pressed Congress for expanded veto power to rein in spending, which has exploded during his tenure to $2.7 trillion to the anger of his fiscal conservative supporters.

Government spending was about $1.9 trillion when Bush took office in 2001 but outlays on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a new government prescription drug plan, and lawmakers' pet projects have boosted the total.

Bush, who has not vetoed a single spending bill passed by Congress, has pledged to reduce the budget gap significantly by 2009.

"A line-item veto would allow the president to remove wasteful spending from a bill while preserving the rest of the legislation," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

I would've thought that, given his record, Bush would just start using this authority, without congressional approval, and then trot out Alberto Gonzales to tell everyone that it's all perfectly legal.