President Bush did do a signing statement on HR 5631 - the 2007 defence appropriations bill
Part of the President's Signing Statement:
"Sections 8007, 8084, and 9005 of the Act prohibit the use of funds to initiate a special access program or a new start program, unless the congressional defense committees receive advance notice. The Supreme Court of the United States has stated that the President's authority to classify and control access to information bearing on the national security flows from the Constitution and does not depend upon a legislative grant of authority. Although the advance notice contemplated by sections 8007, 8084, and 9005 can be provided in most situations as a matter of comity, situations may arise, especially in wartime, in which the President must act promptly under his constitutional grants of executive power and authority as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces while protecting certain extraordinarily sensitive national security information. The executive branch shall construe these sections in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President."
This appears to me to claim extraordinary powers for the President and to lay the grounds for a claim by the President to be able to:
1) initiate classified actions without notifying Congress or getting Congressional authorization or funding
2) to initiate new military appropriations or purchases within the authorized budget without Congressional authorization and
3) to ignore any explicit restrictions Congress tries to retroactively apply to the Defence appropriations budget to prevent redirection of funds, and for the President to be able to use current authorized appropriations to finance activities not explicitly funded by Congress.
These are extraordinary claims.
Below are the sections this part of the signing statement refers to according to the GPO PDF file version of the bill:
8084 is "new start" - so the White House claim they can order new stuff made without asking Congress,
9005 is "None of the funds provided in this title may be used to finance programs or activities denied by Congress in fiscal years 2006 or 2007 appropriations to the Department of Defense or to initiate a procurement or research, development, test and evaluation new start program without prior written notification to the congressional defense committees. "
- this claims to head off a "Boland amendment" - Bush basically claims he can ignore any funding restriction that Congress tries to ban by act of Congress related to this year's defence appropriations!
This is important and a potential Constitutional Crisis point.
Section 8007 "Funds appropriated by this Act may not be used to initiate a special access program without prior notification 30 calendar days in advance to the congressional defense committees. "
- Anyone know what "special access" refers to? I presume this is classified activity.
Bush's signing statement basically says he can initiate classified military actions and bypass any Congressional oversight or authorization.
Ok, this is shit scary.
BUT I Am Not A Lawyer. Caveat Emptor.
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According to Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office
In the United States, the oath of office for the President of the United States is specified in the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1):
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The oath may be sworn or affirmed. Although not present in the text of the Constitution, it has been conventional for Presidents to add "so help me God" at the end of the oath. George Washington did this at his inauguration in 1789...
Now, I watched on TV when George W. Bush was sworn in. I don't remember him making a "signing statement" then such as: "The executive branch shall construe this oath of office in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President."
No, he's sworn to uphold the Constitution. Period. It's not a suggestion. It's the law.
I am not a lawyer. But I am a citizen. I expect the president to be equal to me under the law. We both have to follow it. Clear enough?
you'd think...
Special access programs are code-word classified programs where not even a generic Top Secret clearance gains you access without further investigation and need-to-know. They're the shelf above "Top Secret", known in the defense industry as SAP/SAR (special access program/special access-restricted).
Ok, kinda what I thought from the context.
Then, taken at face value, the signing statement seems to arrogate enormous power to the Presidency - he basically claim on defence matters to be able to ignore Congressional constraints on how money should or should not be spent and to be able to initiate new funding within the total authorized budget - new procurement, new personnel, new actions and new classified action, and explicitly without Congressional oversight, even when it is explicitly required by Congress.
True Imperial Presidency claim.
We need a lawyer to look at his.
Anyone know if the Boston Globe journalist who broke the earlier signing statements picked up on this one?
What kind of research program has to be initiated in such a hurry that there's no time to notify Congress? It's not like finding out that someone is shooting down your F-15's and you need to return fire right away.
In all seriousness, you should post this as a diary at DKos.
I'll call my Senators and Rep tomorrow, I suggest anyone do the same.