[Peace-discuss] Plus Ca 'Change'...

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Wednesday, March 11, 2009 16:30 EDT
	Obama issues first signing statement

On Monday, President Obama repudiated many of his predecessor's signing 
statements -- attachments to legislation that give the president's take and, 
sometimes, his interpretation of certain portions of the law and whether he's 
obligated to actually follow them -- and issued a memo saying that under his 
watch, the use of the tactic would continue, but would be curbed. On Wednesday, 
Obama issued a signing statement of his own.

The statement, which accompanies the omnibus spending bill, looks a lot like 
some of the ones that former President Bush issued during his time in office. 
"The signing statement on the Omnibus bill very much resembles the kind that 
President Bush was criticized for,” CBS News White House Correspondent Mark 
Knoller says.

In the statement, Obama expresses his Justice Department's view that certain 
portions of the omnibus are unconstitutional restraints on presidential power. 
Here's one such caveat:

     Numerous provisions of the legislation purport to condition the authority 
of officers to spend or reallocate funds on the approval of congressional 
committees. These are impermissible forms of legislative aggrandizement in the 
execution of the laws other than by enactment of statutes. Therefore, although 
my Administration will notify the relevant committees before taking the 
specified actions, and will accord the recommendations of such committees all 
appropriate and serious consideration, spending decisions shall not be treated 
as dependent on the approval of congressional committees. Likewise, one other 
provision gives congressional committees the power to establish guidelines for 
funding costs associated with implementing security improvements to buildings. 
Executive officials shall treat such guidelines as advisory. Yet another 
provision requires the Secretary of the Treasury to accede to all requests of a 
Board of Trustees that contains congressional representatives. The Secretary 
shall treat such requests as nonbinding.

The issue of signing statements is a divisive one, with some people arguing the 
practice should be ended altogether. Others -- like Obama -- say they serve an 
important purpose, dealing with Constitutional issues that aren't by themselves 
a reason for the president to veto the bill altogether, but that Bush abused them.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/03/11/signing_statement/index.html?source=rss&aim=/politics/war_room