Obama seeks way to trim costs from US spending bills

WASHINGTON May 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is sending a proposal to Congress on Monday 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 it passes 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 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 provisions, commonly called "earmarks" or "pork," that lawmakers tag on to spending bills, making them more expensive.

The administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Obama's proposals were not an attempt to provide the president with a line-item veto, which the Supreme Court has 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."

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Doina Chiacu)