US president Barack Obama is sending a proposal to Congress today that would make it quicker and easier to trim "wasteful" costs from congressional spending bills, an administration official said.
The Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010 would enable the president to submit a package of cuts or "rescissions" to Congress after lawmakers pass one of the annual spending or appropriations bills that fund federal programs every year.
Under the terms of the proposal, Congress would have to look at the president's slate of suggested cuts as a package and, without making any amendments, give them an up-or-down vote within a specific period of time.
This would speed up the process used by presidents to reduce special provisions, commonly called "earmarks" or "pork," that members of the House of Representatives and Senate tag on to spending bills, making them more expensive.
The administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Obama's proposals were not an attempt to provide the president with a line-item veto, which the Supreme Court has previously struck down.
"(The) line item veto allowed the president to use his veto authority to strip out select provisions of legislation while signing the rest into law," the official said. "Our proposal is fundamentally different since it does not expand the presidential veto authority in any way."
The official said the bill would be effective in getting rid of duplicative and wasteful programs.
To do that, Mr Obama's proposals would essentially change current congressional rules to adjust how lawmakers consider requests to take items out of spending bills.
"We propose to simply change the internal procedures under which Congress considers certain rescission requests. These rescissions would only occur if, as with any other law, they are then passed by Congress and signed by the president," the official said.
The House and Senate must approve Mr Obama's proposals for them to become law.
"We look forward to working with the House and Senate to pass this important legislation," the official said.