Remember the time Bush decided he had the authority to wiretap anyone communicating overseas? Well, now Bush has the power to sign bills into law before they've been through Congress.
That's right. The president no longer needs the approval of Congress - at least that's what Bush thinks. With all the bad press he's had lately, it's no wonder we haven't heard anything about this epic blunder.
On Feb. 8, Bush signed a bill he received from Congress called the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005, according to a March 23 Washington Post article. There didn't seem to be any problem, but that was before the House of Representatives realized the bill it passed was radically different from the bill the Senate passed and Bush signed into law. In fact, the bill was different to the tune of $2 billion.
If you're not running into the streets terrified by now, you should be.
According to allegations made by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., either the speaker of the House called the president or the senior staff of the speaker called the president's senior staff to discuss the validity of the bill before it was signed. Obviously, Bush didn't think he needed advice about how a bill is made into a law - he must have missed that episode of "Schoolhouse Rock."
How did this situation come about? It all started when a provision to cut Medicare payments for durable medical equipment by $2 billion was inadvertently changed. In the bill that passed through the Senate, the restrictions were only supposed to last 13 months; in the bill the House signed, the restrictions were accidentally recorded as lasting for 36 months. This worked out to be a $2 billion alteration. After the change - with the 36-month restrictions - the House barely passed the bill with a vote of 216 to 214, according to the Post article. Then Bush signed the Senate's 13-month version into law.
So now we have a law that was illegally passed and puts billions of taxpayer dollars at risk.
Obviously, as soon as the mistake was realized, there were plans to make sure everything was fixed, right? Actually, the Post reported that Republican leaders simply told the White House they didn't want to have another vote.
White House officials' response? Sounds good to us.
The law that the House never passed still stands because the Republican Party has decided it might be in its best interest to leave the issue alone, especially because November elections are coming up soon. Somehow, they also got the White House to agree to this ridiculous notion.
I wonder what they're putting in the water in Washington these days.
The simple truth of the matter is that the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005 is not a law, according to the Web site FindLaw, because it has not gone through the legal process necessary to make it a law. When the Constitution decreed that a bill has to be passed by the Senate, the House and the president, there wasn't really any room for interpretation. In this case, the same bill did not pass through the Senate, the House and the president, so the "law" Bush signed is anything but valid.
What other monumental achievements will Bush pull off before he leaves office? He's already authorized questionable wiretaps and created a law illegally. If Bush continues on this path, maybe before he leaves office he will take it upon himself to rewrite the Constitution, too.
-
Sources:
- "Washington Post: Watchdog contends budget bill broke law"
- "FindLaw: A Bill Is Unconstitutionally Being Treated as Law"
- "Did President knowingly sign law that didn't pass?"
- "Bush Signed Illegal Bill Into Law That Bypassed the House-Senate Legislative Process"
-
"McCain defends Bush; Bush signed budget law knowing it had typos"
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
