July 10th, 2009:

via House Overwhelmingly Rejects Signing Statement – TheHill.com.

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.

This really hurts. The admonition from the House of President Obama’s signing statement is something that we all wished had happened years ago to override some of Bush’s outlandish signing statements. But Bush and his cabinet were above the law, I suppose. Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) had no problem with the signing statements when it was Bush doing the signing, but her and the House Republicans raise the roof when a Democrat basically does the same thing.

Bush issued signing statements on over 800 pieces of legislation – more signing statements issued by a single President than all Presidents combined.

Here’s an excerpt from one:

Statement on Signing the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007
October 4, 2006

Section 513 of the Act purports to direct the conduct of security and suitability investigations. To the extent that section 513 relates to access to classified national security information, the executive branch shall construe this provision in a manner consistent with the President’s exclusive constitutional authority, as head of the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief, to classify and control access to national security information and to determine whether an individual is suitable to occupy a position in the executive branch with access to such information.

This is an example of a recurring theme in Bush’s signing statements. He makes the declaration that as head of the “unitary executive branch” or “Commander in Chief” he can construe provisions in any manner he chooses. Nobody in Congress complained until President Obama came along.

Congress should have rebuked Bush just as strongly, 429-2, back in 2001 when it all started, but the cowardly Democrats would not close ranks. Once a few of these statements were allowed to settle, the flood gates opened. Bush proceeded from that point to put himself above the law. Republicans seem to have the unity thing together, and also the scream-and-shout thing. Democrats should learn from this.

For a full list of Bush’s signing statements, go here.