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CLINTON v. CITY OF NEW YORK

Opinion of the Court

also have standing to sue. Thus, we are satisﬁed that both
of these actions are Article III “Cases” that we have a duty
to decide.

IV

The Line Item Veto Act gives the President the power
to “cancel
in whole” three types of provisions that have
been signed into law: “(1) any dollar amount of discretionary
budget authority; (2) any item of new direct spending; or
2 U. S. C. § 691(a) (1994 ed.,
(3) any limited tax beneﬁt.”
Supp. II).
It is undisputed that the New York case involves
an “item of new direct spending” and that the Snake River
case involves a “limited tax beneﬁt” as those terms are de-
It is also undisputed that each of those
ﬁned in the Act.
provisions had been signed into law pursuant to Article I,
§ 7, of the Constitution before it was canceled.

The Act requires the President to adhere to precise proce-
In
dures whenever he exercises his cancellation authority.
identifying items for cancellation he must consider the legis-
lative history, the purposes, and other relevant information
about the items. See 2 U. S. C. § 691(b) (1994 ed., Supp. II).
He must determine, with respect to each cancellation, that it
will “(i) reduce the Federal budget deﬁcit; (ii) not impair any
essential Government functions; and (iii) not harm the na-
§ 691(a)(A). Moreover, he must transmit a
tional interest.”
special message to Congress notifying it of each cancellation
within ﬁve calendar days (excluding Sundays) after the
enactment of the canceled provision. See § 691(a)(B).
It is
undisputed that the President meticulously followed these
procedures in these cases.

A cancellation takes effect upon receipt by Congress of
the special message from the President. See § 691b(a).
If,
however, a “disapproval bill” pertaining to a special message
is enacted into law, the cancellations set forth in that mes-
sage become “null and void.”
Ibid. The Act sets forth a
detailed expedited procedure for the consideration of a “dis-
approval bill,” see § 691d, but no such bill was passed for