Florida Senate - 2024 SCR By the Committee on Fiscal Policy 594-03399-24 20247064__ CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Senate Concurrent Resolution A concurrent resolution applying to the Congress of the United States to call a constitutional convention for the sole purpose of proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which would authorize the President of the United States to eliminate one or more items of appropriation while approving other portions of a bill. 8

WHEREAS, despite various efforts to control the explosive growth of federal spending, the President of the United States has had insufficient authority with respect to the budgetary process, and

WHEREAS, the federal budget has not been balanced for decades and, as of 2024, the national debt has increased to more than $34 trillion, and

WHEREAS, presidents of both political parties have cited the need for greater presidential involvement in administering the budgetary affairs of the nation, including having the ability to veto line items from the federal budget, and

WHEREAS, in states, the governor has the constitutional power to veto items of appropriation while approving other portions of a bill, and

WHEREAS, this power has been described by political scholars as a highly desirable one, and one which has had a positive effect on the operation of government, and

WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States passed the Line Item Veto Act of to enable the president to control “pork barrel spending” in the federal budget, and Florida Senate - 2024 SCR 7064 594-03399-24 20247064__ CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.

WHEREAS, while the Line Item Veto Act of was in effect, the president used this authority times to veto line items from the federal budget, and

WHEREAS, in 1998, the Line Item Veto Act of was found to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, thus requiring enactment of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States in order for line item veto authorization to be implemented, and

WHEREAS, under

Article V of the Constitution of the United States, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, Congress shall call a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution,

NOW, THEREFORE, 42

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida, the House of Representatives Concurring: 45 46

(1) That the Legislature of the State of Florida applies to Congress, under

Article V of the Constitution of the United States, to call a constitutional convention limited to proposing an amendment to the Constitution which would authorize the President of the United States to eliminate one or more items of appropriation while approving other portions of a bill. 52

(2) That this application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with

Article V of the Constitution of the United States until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states have made applications on the same subject. 57 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Florida Senate - 2024 SCR 7064 594-03399-24 20247064__ CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.

Florida also proposes that the legislatures of the several states comprising the United States apply to Congress to call a constitutional convention for proposing such an amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 62 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this concurrent resolution is revoked and withdrawn, nullified, and superseded to the same effect as if it had never been passed, and retroactive to the date of passage, if it is used for the purpose of calling a constitutional convention or used in support of conducting a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution of the United States with any agenda other than to propose an amendment to the Constitution which would authorize the President of the United States to eliminate one or more items of appropriation while approving other portions of a bill. 72 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this application be dispatched to the President of the United States, to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to each member of the Florida delegation to the United States Congress, and to the presiding officer of each house of the legislature of each state. 79