Bush Exempts Himself From The Patriot Act
Hmm...
Just another turf battle between the White House and Congress. The executive branch, under many Presidents from both sides of the aisle, has long upheld this. The executive is a "separate but equal" branch of government and as such cannot be controlled by Congress except in those instances specifically provided for in the Constitution.
As far as statute goes, there is not much Congress can force the President to do. President Bush is simply recognizing that fact and upholding the independence of his office. Not that this will appease the alarmists who will no doubt be hatching conspiracy theories about what the President is, or is planning to, cover up with this move...but there is no accounting for stupidity.
WASHINGTON -- When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.
The bill contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers. The provisions require Justice Department officials to keep closer track of how often the FBI uses the new powers and in what type of situations. Under the law, the administration would have to provide the information to Congress by certain dates.
Bush signed the bill with fanfare at a White House ceremony March 9, calling it ''a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people." But after the reporters and guests had left, the White House quietly issued a ''signing statement," an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law.
In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."
Bush wrote: ''The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information . . . "
Just another turf battle between the White House and Congress. The executive branch, under many Presidents from both sides of the aisle, has long upheld this. The executive is a "separate but equal" branch of government and as such cannot be controlled by Congress except in those instances specifically provided for in the Constitution.
As far as statute goes, there is not much Congress can force the President to do. President Bush is simply recognizing that fact and upholding the independence of his office. Not that this will appease the alarmists who will no doubt be hatching conspiracy theories about what the President is, or is planning to, cover up with this move...but there is no accounting for stupidity.
