New York City Sues Over Line-Item Veto

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani challenged the constitutionality of the presidential line-item veto Thursday in a federal lawsuit seeking to keep New York from losing Medicaid funds.

President Clinton’s August veto “unfairly targets the city and the state of New York,” Giuliani said. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court here.

Even as the law came under fresh legal challenge, Clinton used it yet again Thursday, striking an $854 million five-year benefits provision for federal workers from a Treasury Department spending bill.

Traveling in South America, Clinton called the provision “hastily conceived” and wasteful.

The first president to have the power, Clinton has exercised the line-item veto 55 times in three months. The 1996 law enables him to cancel specific projects and programs, or “items,” from spending bills and from certain tax bills.