President Bush plans to send proposed legislation to Congress on Monday that would allow him to control spending by vetoing specific items in larger bills, a Bush administration official said.

President Clinton got that wish in 1996, when the new reform-minded Republican majority in the House helped pass a line-item veto law.

Two years later, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional because it violated the principle that Congress, and not the executive branch, holds the power of the purse.

Instead, Bush is proposing that he be allowed to send Congress proposals to strike earmarks from spending bills and special interest tax breaks and that Congress be required to bring them to a vote. Constitutional scholars say this version should pass muster with the Supreme Court.

Bush's version was actually pushed by Democrats in the 1990s - including Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, who filed suit against the 1996 law. John Kerry, D-Mass., pushed a similar approach in his presidential campaign.

Still, a proposal similar to Bush's veto plan was actually voted down by the House two years ago a 174-237 vote, with three out of four Democrats voting "nay."

"I have always supported giving the President the authority to exercise the line item veto as a means to help rein in wasteful spending. It is a useful tool that rejects the status quo as well as the agenda of more government spending that congressional Democrats want desperately to protect. It is important that any proposal give the President real authority to eliminate worthless pork in the budget and meet the test of Constitutionality as well. As Republicans move forward on putting together a responsible budget, we will be discussing this issue as a Conference."