House Overwhelmingly Rejects Obama Signing Statement

The Hill:

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.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[PAposter]

dave1111 I'm a Fan of dave1111 I'm a fan of this user permalink

Wouldn't Palin use her "Department of Law"?
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:10 PM on 07/10/2009

New Anni-Frid I'm a Fan of Anni-Frid I'm a fan of this user permalink

You mean this one:

http://www.law.state.ak.us/
-----------------------------------------------------

Yikes!

The Department of Law is part of the executive branch of Alaska state government. The attorney general is the principal executive officer of the department, and is appointed by the governor of Alaska.

[PAposter]

Contrast:

Government in Pennsylvania

Like the United States, Pennsylvania’s government is defined by a constitution. And, like the United States, Pennsylvania’s government is comprised of three equal and independent branches. The legislative branch makes commonwealth laws, a responsibility carried out by the General Assembly. The executive branch administers commonwealth laws and is overseen by the Governor. And the judicial branch preserves the rule of law and guarantees citizens’ rights by resolving disputes through the courts.

[dave1111]

Palin mentioned the Presidents department of law, in the White House.

[PAposter]

I know, did you notice her Judicial and Executive Branch are one in the same.

[Anni-Frid]

So she confused the name of the department in her state with it's counterpart in the Federal Government. At least she knows which one of the 57 states it's in.

[dave1111]

Contrast: Sarah's own statement referred to THE PRESIDENT, AND THE WHITEHOUSE. Not Alaska.

[PAposter]

I know...now we know why she thinks the "Law Department" in the White House would just throw out cases...because she thinks it's part of the Executive Branch, hahahahahaha!

[Anni-Frid]

Sorta like how the Department of Justice is part of the Executive Branch of the Federal government. And the Attorney General is the principal officer of the department, and is appointed by the President.

[dave1111]

No, it's nothing like that, DOJ does the legal work of the country, NOT the President.

[dave1111]

Keep digging, Anni.

[abouttime]

Thanks Congress!- you are solely responsible for te spending of the People's money!
Screw the IMF and World Bank -they rob us with the stroke of a pen and OUR taxes go helplessly to drspot Oligarchs and it NEVER gets to the common people AND the environment, freedoms of people are left behind for the short-term benifit of the "money changers".
No thanks to Obama!

[KQuark]

Ah checks and balances. Don't you love it.

[PerryLogan]

On the other hand, it's a rare example of Obama asserting himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3HJDm_x24g

[naschkatze]

Has there been a reaction from Obama or the WH yet? I am seeing very little coverage of this story elsewhere so far which baffles me because it signals a sea change. Maybe the MSM can't take a shock or stubbornly likes the idea of imperial presidency.

[dave1111]

Yeah, silencio from the MSM on this.

[PAposter]

I think they have an aversion to real news...gives 'em hives. If or when they cover this story...one or more of the top reporters will be missing for a few days to clear up the hives.

[dave1111]

If they can somehow tie it into MJ's drug use, we will hear about it.

[simplify]

Presdient Obama is not perfect. He will make mistakes. But to somehow make him in any way comparable to Bush is ludicrous

[Cybersquirt]

Not in this case, it's not. Saying 'you're' going to ignore certain conditions of a bill 'you' just is a classic Bush move.

[Cybersquirt]

...just ~signed~ is...

[MaxBob]

When GW did it, it was an assault on the Constitution. When PresBO does it, it's for good constitutional reasons. Too precious. Promise #34 BROKEN! Only 200 more to go.

[PAposter]

Really?!? Do you think President Obama wants to t o r t u r e ?

[dave1111]

Wow, 200? really? We may need to give him a second term, if there are that many left.

[Sirdi]

Wow. If you could multiply you would see there would be no need for a second term.

[KQuark]

Where where the Republicans in Congress enforcing their powers during eight years under Bush?

That's the real question.

[Helzapoppin]

It's truly pathetic how few people understand how separation of powers is supposed to work.

Congress passes bills. If the President agrees with the bill, he signs it into law. If he doesn't like it, or thinks all or part of it is unconstitutional, he vetoes it. If Congress overrides his veto, he can sue and the Judiciary determines issues of Constitutionality.

Sure Obama can issue signing statements an an expression of his opinion. But he doesn't have the right to not enforce the law, and certainly not provisions of bills he himself signs into law.

Enough with the shortcuts and end-runs around the Constitution.

[wijg]

Thank you.

[dave1111]

Unless he writes a signing statement giving him an end-run around the Constitution.

[Oldtt]

As has been said numerous times, nobody studies civics in high school anymore. As a result, many people cannot even name the three branches of government much less understand how they work.

[Davonne Rushing]

I don't like how Obama's adopting some of Bush's policies.

[simplify]

Comparing President Obama to Bush is ridiculous and shows how fickle the American people are. The media as usual has you malcontents on a hook.

[Oldtt]

Comparing Obama's ACTIONS to Bush's ACTIONS is entirely legitimate.

[Anni-Frid]

And I fully expected Obama to relinquish all the extra power the Executive Branch accumulated during the Bush years.

[CypressTree]

I'm begging for another speech about the Constitution and the Rule of Law from Obama. The hypocrisy of it all will be even more astounding considering this latest maneuvering.

[Anni-Frid]

The speech will be titled, "Change, And This Time We Mean It".

[PAposter]

What maneuvering...where have you been the past 8 years?

[pricespector]

The past eight years does not equate toa justification to continue. It seems everyone that uses the eight last years is doing so only to justify the next 4 to 8.

[TerryOakland]

I don't quite understand the reasoning behind Obama's signing statement, but I believe that Obama needs to rise above the low ethical bar set by the Bush administration. Signing statements run completely counter to the whole legislative process. Sign the bill or veto it; but don't sign it and then change it ex post facto. That disingenuous. And Bush did it. Enough said.

[flamenfiddle]

h.p's infamous scrub a dub dub in full swing

[Anni-Frid]

Only an !diot like Bush or Palin would think that you could circumvent the Constitution with something like a signing statement.

[prscnt1]

Add Obama in the list.

[dave1111]

Wouldn't Palin use her "Department of Law"?

[Anni-Frid]

You mean this one:

http://www.law.state.ak.us/

[prscnt1]

I am starting to have bad feeling about Obama administration... Cheney should be exposed, Bush should be as well. Stop attaching BS to the bill, sign or veto. Get CIA in order before others deploy their agents to asssinate our people... We have mess on our hand, move fast before neocons' machine make it impossible.

[Chace Haynes]

....starting too?? I guess its better late than never. Welcome to the club

[PiscesPrincess]

Did you notice the periodical source of this article.? I did and I don't trust "The Hill" any farther than I can throw it.
something very strange about the way it was slanted. and haven't time to figure it out.
Maybe KO will discuss it tonight. He's always good at catching these kind of snaffu type articles

[naschkatze]

They can't blatantly like about the numbers though. How can you slant Obama getting only two dissenting votes?

[pricespector]

It's not really up for debate. He is using signing statements, so the fact is esatblished. Granted, it might not be a surprise that "The Hill" is actually REPORTING on it.