National Affairs: Precision Veto

Like Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman before him, Dwight Eisenhower met with stony stares when he urged Congress to give him the chance for an "item veto," enabling him to slice an objectionable section out of a bill without killing the whole bill with the veto ax. But last week Ike got rid of an obnoxious provision in a bill by what amounted to an item veto. Oldtimers in Congress said they could not recall anything quite like it.

Facing the President was a Tennessee Valley Authority self-financing bill, approved by both friends and foes of TVA. Friends liked the bill because...

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