Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist today writes an Op-Ed for NRO in which he makes the case for giving the President a line item veto:

The president must have this authority for one simple reason: Under our current budget process, members of Congress can often slip pet programs or projects into massive appropriations bills that fund necessary, ongoing government operations. Few members of Congress, after all, would oppose the Department of the Interior’s nearly $10 billion budget because they don’t want to spend $350,000 for flower baskets in Chicago or stand against the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s almost $35 billion budget to deny a $550,000 grant to a glass museum in Tacoma, Washington. Under current law, however, most members have no real choice.

Partly as a result, Congress has a hard time eliminating unnecessary spending. The Office of Management and Budget, indeed, reports that over a quarter of all federal programs either do not work or can’t show any evidence that they do. Another 28 percent receive “adequate” ratings (indicating problems) while a mere 15 percent set and achieve the ambitious goals needed to earn OMB’s highest rating.