line-item veto

noun

: the power of a government executive to veto specific items in an appropriations bill without vetoing the bill altogether

Examples of line-item veto in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
This is analytically similar to impoundment: The line-item veto gave the president the unilateral power to cancel specific appropriations — to spend less than Congress instructed the president to. Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 18 Feb. 2025 And the Supreme Court upheld congressional spending power in a 1996 decision that ruled it unconstitutional for a president to cancel only one part of a law, also known as a line-item veto. Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 29 Jan. 2025 Several challenges to the act and executive impoundment have come through the courts, including the 1998 Supreme Court case Clinton v. City of New York that challenged President Clinton's use of a line-item veto to cut funding, the courts have ruled against executive impoundments. Ivan Pereira, ABC News, 28 Jan. 2025 The Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that the line-item veto, for presidents to cancel parts of legislation rather than entire laws, was unconstitutional. Bart Jansen, USA TODAY, 28 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for line-item veto

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of line-item veto was in 1979

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Cite this Entry

“Line-item veto.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/line-item%20veto. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

Legal Definition

line-item veto

noun
: an executive veto of a specific item in an appropriations bill
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