Boston Globe: Bush's plan to expand power at expense of legislative branch

[Human Torch]

Bush signings called effort to expand power
Report sees broad strategy

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | October 5, 2006



http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boston.com%2Fnews%2Fnation%2Fwashington%2Farticles%2F2006%2F10%2F05%2Fbush_signings_called_effort_to_expand_power%2F

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's frequent use of signing statements to assert that he has the power to disobey newly enacted laws is ``an integral part" of his ``comprehensive strategy to strengthen and expand executive power" at the expense of the legislative branch, according to a report by the non partisan Congressional Research Service.

In a 27-page report written for lawmakers, the research service said the Bush administration is using signing statements as a means to slowly condition Congress into accepting the White House's broad conception of presidential power, which includes a presidential right to ignore laws he believes are unconstitutional.

The ``broad and persistent nature of the claims of executive authority forwarded by President Bush appear designed to inure Congress, as well as others, to the belief that the president in fact possesses expansive and exclusive powers upon which the other branches may not intrude," the report said.

Under most interpretations of the Constitution, the report said, some of the legal assertions in Bush's signing statements are dubious. For example, it said, the administration has suggested repeatedly that the president has exclusive authority over foreign affairs and has an absolute right to withhold information from Congress. Such assertions are ``generally unsupported by established legal principles," the report said. Despite such criticism, the administration has continued to issue signing statements for new laws. Last week, for example, Bush signed the 2007 military budget bill, but then issued a statement challenging 16 of its provisions.

[texpatriot2004]

1. Impeach the Felon! Impeach him NOW! nm

[driver8]

2. My hatred of pissy pants grows stronger every day.

I swear...just when I think I cannot possibly hate him more than I already do, he comes back and raises the bar a notch or two.

Won't someone please strap on a pair of balls and stop this idiot??

I guess the Constitution really is "just a piece of paper." It doesn't seem to mean much to our "pResident" or our Congress.

[dubykc]

3. I don't hate the shrub...

He's too stupid to hate. There is no way he's intelligent enough to come up with all the crap he does on his own. It's the collection of Gestapo he has around him that I hate and fear: Rice, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez and Yoo to name a few. I would like to know what kind of strong arm tactics his henchmen use to bully congress around though.