Line-item vote today

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) yesterday filed for cloture on an amendment giving the president line-item veto authority, setting up a likely vote today on whether to add the line-item bill to the Senate’s minimum wage legislation.

Gregg and Republican leaders struck an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to hold a roll-call vote on the line-item plan late last week after a partisan standoff over the amendment nearly derailed the Senate’s ethics reform bill. While the line-item agreement paved the way for overwhelming passage of the ethics bill, it faces long odds in the Senate as well as future conference negotiations with the House.