President Bush signs a Bill that did NOT pass Congress

507 Views 20 Replies 15 Participants Last post by mrzmeg, Apr 6, 2006

Gitti

Discussion Starter · Apr 1, 2006

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Co...dent_0315.html

Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) has alleged in a letter to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card that President Bush signed a version of the Budget Reconciliation Act that, in effect, did not pass the House of Representatives.

Further, Waxman says there is reason to believe that the Speaker of the House called President Bush before he signed the law, and alerted him that the version he was about to sign differed from the one that actually passed the House.

If true, this would put the President in willful violation of the U.S. Constitution.

1 - 20 of 21 Posts

Momtwice

· #2 · Apr 1, 2006

Do you think that has anything to do with why Card just resigned?

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MountainLaurel

· #3 · Apr 1, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gitti
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Co...dent_0315.html

Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) has alleged in a letter to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card that President Bush signed a version of the Budget Reconciliation Act that, in effect, did not pass the House of Representatives.

Further, Waxman says there is reason to believe that the Speaker of the House called President Bush before he signed the law, and alerted him that the version he was about to sign differed from the one that actually passed the House.

If true, this would put the President in willful violation of the U.S. Constitution.

I'm sure it was just an accident.

:

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Momtwice

· #4 · Apr 1, 2006

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0330-03.htm

RowansDad

· #5 · Apr 1, 2006

There are a couple of lawsuits filed over this SNAFU...

Lawsuit challenges deficit-cutting federal budget law

"A consumer-rights group on Tuesday challenged as unconstitutional the Deficit Reduction Act that cuts a wide variety of federal programs, on grounds the version President Bush signed differs from what was passed by the House.

"The lawsuit by Public Citizen in U.S. District Court here is the second filed after Bush signed the $39 billion deficit-cutting legislation into law on Feb. 8. A Republican activist also has sued in federal court in Alabama.

More here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...-lawsuit_x.htm

GOP members are loathed to go through another budget process so close to 2006 midterm elections.

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Tata

· #6 · Apr 1, 2006

Oh, everyone makes a mistake now and then. Iraq? Oh, no. those troops were supposed to go to Afganistan. Oh, well. They're there now. Let's just have two wars.

RachelGS

· #7 · Apr 1, 2006

Clinton! Clinton! Evildoers! Defeatists! Antipatriots! Smoke! Mirrors! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

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JessicaS

· #8 · Apr 1, 2006

Oh hell....

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RachelGS

· #9 · Apr 1, 2006

Shhhh! It's vewy, vewy quiet from the right.

angelpie545

· #10 · Apr 1, 2006

Honestly, though it does not surprise me. President Bush seems to have no regard for the laws in place that have governed our nation for years. He's even been quoted as saying "This would be alot easier if it were a dictatorship" (I will look up that link..don't have it right this second

). Very very sad. And yet this man claims to want to "preserve our freedom". That quote may have been taken out of context, but he has proven from his actions as President that he may very well have meant it.

:

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2

Danelle78

· #11 · Apr 1, 2006

: Crossed the line this time. Dems better step up now.

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boingo82

· #12 · Apr 2, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by RachelGS
Shhhh! It's vewy, vewy quiet from the right.

$50 bucks says a Bin Laden tape comes out this week.

Mama Rana

· #13 · Apr 3, 2006

I know I'm a political idiot, but could someone explain to me how he even got ahold of a bill to sign that hadn't even passed through both houses yet?

Thanks!

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SummerLover

· #14 · Apr 3, 2006

Here's a pretty good article-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...032101763.html

Quote:

But last month, Washington threw all that old-fashioned civics stuff into a tizzy, when President Bush signed into law a bill that actually never passed the House. Bill -- in this case, a major budget-cutting measure that will affect millions of Americans -- became a law because it was "certified" by the leaders of the House and Senate.

Quote:

For their part, congressional leaders and administration officials point to an 1892 Supreme Court decision, Field v. Clark , to argue that as long as the speaker of the House and the leader of the Senate certify a bill passed, it is passed. In that case, a bill signed by President Benjamin Harrison and authenticated by the leaders of the House and Senate was different from the version printed in the official journals of Congress, known now as the Congressional Record.

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MountainLaurel

· #15 · Apr 3, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by boingo82
$50 bucks says a Bin Laden tape comes out this week.

Isn't it time for another pretty white girl to go missing?

MountainLaurel

· #16 · Apr 3, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mama Rana
I know I'm a political idiot, but could someone explain to me how he even got ahold of a bill to sign that hadn't even passed through both houses yet?

Thanks!

The bill had been passed by both houses. However, the version that Bush signed was not the version that passed. It was an earlier version.

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Mama Rana

· #17 · Apr 3, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by SummerLover
Here's a pretty good article-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...032101763.html

Thanks! That's a much better explanation. Wonder what happened to the errant clerk?

aniT

· #18 · Apr 3, 2006

So which one becomes law? The one Bush signed or the one that actually passed?

ETA: Ok I read the link while watching TV.

It looks like they are trying to declaire it law. Figures.

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Danelle78

· #19 · Apr 3, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by boingo82
$50 bucks says a Bin Laden tape comes out this week.

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captain optimism

· #20 · Apr 3, 2006

The Bush Administration has shown consistently that they have no respect for the rule of law. I suppose that the reason to do something like this, to sign a bill that hasn't actually passed both houses of Congress, is precisely to weaken the Constitution. Why else would the party in power do such a thing? The bill that passed can't be that different from the original bill!

They did it in order to create a legal precedent. If they win a lawsuit that says that the president can sign bills into law that don't actually pass the legislature, we won't have any balance of powers at all.

The thing is, their attempts to create these legal precedents are so ludicrous that I can't imagine they could get away with it. You know, like the wiretapping thing? Like the extraordinary rendition thing? Like Guantanamo Bay and "enemy combatants" and that whole business? Even Bush's initial decision when he came to office to renege on treaties and international agreements that Clinton signed.

I suppose I have an easier time believing that people in power can do evil deeds than I do believing that they would flout the country's laws and normative governing behavior.

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