Bush Wins Over Pesky Balance of Power With Stroke of Pen
This entry was posted on 11/26/2006 5:54 PM and is filed under Bush vs Balance of Powers.
When I first ran across the Security and Prosperity Partnership, I thought it was just another one of those crazy internet stories -- can't believe anything on the internet. I thought, There's no way he could merge the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and not having Congress yelling to the high heavens. I ran across this article, "Bush Challenges Hundreds of Laws," while researching some small remark someone had made about Bush's signing statements. What is a signing statement? According to this article, it's a statement he appends to the bill that effectively makes whatever part of the bill he objects to invalid. And he's done it more than 750 times.... 1 out of every 10 bills he signs. And why no yelling from the Congress? According to the article, he congratulates the sponsors of the bill at the signing ceremony, then appends the signing statement after everybody's gone, and the end product is just filed in the Federal Register. Nobody the wiser. And yet, this practice seems to be well-known by everyone except us ole peons out here in America. So we think we've fought for a bill, got it through the House, the Senate, and the President signed it into law. Before I read this article, I thought he only had 2 choice -- sign the bill or veto it. Well, that's an obvious WRONG. And look at what he's doing with each and every signing statement... increasing executive power, bypassing Congressional oversight, bypassing Judicial oversight. He has absolutely run amok! And I'm a Republican saying that! Yes, Virginia, a Security and Prosperity Partnership is not only possible, it is real. (For those of you not charter members of the Older Than Dirt Gang, that last was originally, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.)
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/