Suit to attack line-item veto power (Pennsylvania)

[Judi Lynn]

Suit to attack line-item veto power
Tuesday, September 27, 2005

BY CHARLES THOMPSON
Of The Patriot-News

Top Republican legislative leaders are expected to file suit in Commonwealth Court this week to attempt to limit Gov. Ed Rendell's line-item veto power to budget numbers.

In July, Rendell used the line-item power he has over the state's budget to cross out language intended to bar the Department of Public Welfare from using any public money for birth control, family planning counseling or other services at clinics that also provide abortions or abortion counseling.

The language had been inserted at the insistence of anti-abortion legislators, including Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin County, who have placed similar restrictions on money for other women's health programs in past budgets.

The issue was reopened this year because the Rendell administration sought to fold family-planning services for low-income women into its overall medical assistance programs, a move that it said would help the state qualify for additional federal money.
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