The Island of Logic

Obama severely criticized George W. Bush for using signing statements while on the campaign trail. (See video below) A signing statement is a written comment by the President at the signing of legislation. Usually this is just a statement about the bill, but sometimes a President will state that a part of the bill is unconstitutional and they will chose to ignore it or enforce it in a way that they think is more constitutional. It’s similar to the line item veto which past Presidents have wanted to use to cut down on Congress’ pork barrel spending but the signing statement is only used on constitutional or unconstitutional grounds. The line item veto is not law, but frankly neither is the signing statement. I do believe this is an overreach of executive power and I did not support George W. Bush when he used it. The Judicial branch is responsible for declaring legislation constitutional or unconstitutional, but they have been shirking in that responsibility also. Remember Campaign Finance Reform? If a President believes a piece of legislation is unconstitutional he should veto the entire piece. Obama has now broken his campaign promise to not use signing statements when he tried to ignore restrictions to international aid payments in a signing statement. (Read below)

From Hot Air:

The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints.
House members approved an amendment by a 429-2 vote to have the Obama administration pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require a Treasury Department report on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) activities. The amendment to a 2010 funding bill for the State Department and foreign operations was proposed by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), but it received broad bipartisan support.
The conditions on World Bank and IMF funding were part of the $106 billion war supplemental bill that was passed last month. Obama, in a statement made as he signed the bill, said that he would ignore the conditions.
They would “interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations by directing the Executive to take certain positions in negotiations or discussions with international organizations and foreign governments, or by requiring consultation with the Congress prior to such negotiations or discussions,” Obama said in the signing statement.

Tags: Obama, Signing Statements

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