President Clinton lacked authority when he used the line-item veto on a spending bill provision allowing veteran federal employees to change pension systems, the White House said Saturday.
The reversal applies only to the pension item, said spokesman Barry Toiv. The change will let 1.1 million federal and postal workers hired before 1983 consider changing to a newer retirement plan that includes a stock investment program.
The Washington Post, quoting administration sources, said officials realized the pension provision fell outside Clinton’s discretionary budget authority, contrary to what he believed when he struck down the pension language.
Toiv said the president acted against the provision in the first place “because it would cost taxpayers $251 million over 10 years (and) . . . never was debated in the House or Senate.”
The Justice Department and the National Treasury Employees Union will present a federal court with a consent agreement detailing the administration’s position, Toiv added.
The union sued the government over the veto. Arguments had been scheduled in a few weeks in U.S. District Court on the union’s challenge and two other lawsuits challenging the veto power’s constitutionality.
