Roll Call offers this report (paid subscription required), which begins: “When President Bush called on lawmakers to grant him line-item veto authority Monday, he couched his request as a measure to battle excessive spending. But one Senate Republican is now urging the White House to take on Congressional earmarks in a slightly different fashion: by simply ignoring them. Pointing to a technicality of the appropriations process, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) wants the Bush administration to utilize a ‘virtual’ line-item veto. Under DeMint’’ plan, the president would direct agency chiefs to ignore spending directed by committee reports that accompany legislation but are not included in the text of the spending bills themselves.” The article refrences a CRS memo I would like to read but could not find on the web: “DeMint cited a Congressional Research Service memorandum issued to House and Senate offices Monday. ‘Earmarks that appear in committee reports and the statements of managers do not legally bind agencies, unless text in a statute provides that they shall have the force of law,’ the memo stated.”