Jeff,

It wasn't an amendment, it was an attachment.
Neither house has line item veto powers once an item is attached to a bill when the bill is put to vote. The only way to defeat that part of the bill would have been to vote against the entire package. No one was going to do that. It is the same tactic used by congressman porky pig to get a million dollars to fund a study on the effects of daylight on cockroaches by a grade school or feedlot owner in his or her district.

The way to stop most of this crap from happening is to give the President the power to exercise line item vetoes. Let him or her sign into law the valid and good stuff, and send the crap back to Congress for them to validate and prove the crap is worthy of being law on its own.

Bill Frist was responsible for this law being attached to a security bill. I'm a registered Republican, and I'm ashamed of what he did -- it was a cowardly move.