Specter Will Hold Hearing on Bush’s ‘Signing Statements’
The Republican senator announced the move in the wake of news that Bush used "signing statements" to assert his supposed right to circumvent more than 750 laws passed over the last five years. Legal scholars say the breadth of Bush's use of "signing statements" is unprecedented.The Republican senator announced the move in the wake of news that Bush used “signing statements” to assert his supposed right to circumvent more than 750 laws passed over the last five years. Legal scholars say the breadth of Bush’s use of ‘signing statements’ is unprecedented.
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WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, accusing the White House of a “very blatant encroachment” on congressional authority, said yesterday he will hold an oversight hearing into President Bush’s assertion that he has the power to bypass more than 750 laws enacted over the past five years.
”There is some need for some oversight by Congress to assert its authority here,” Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said in an interview. ”What’s the point of having a statute if . . . the president can cherry-pick what he likes and what he doesn’t like?”
Specter said he plans to hold the hearing in June. He said he intends to call administration officials to explain and defend the president’s claims of authority, as well to invite constitutional scholars to testify on whether Bush has overstepped the boundaries of his power.
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The veteran politician was first elected to the U.S. Senate to represent Pennsylvania in 1980. He spent 30 years in the upper house, making him the longest-serving senator in the state's history.
The 111th Congress produced some real eleventh-hour gains for the Obama administration, and by extension the president's party, but some Democrats, such as Sen. Harry Reid and outgoing Sen. Arlen Specter, aren't ready to get over some of the biggest partisan clashes of the last two years.
By day's end Wednesday, our chums over at the U.S. Senate hadn't moved much closer to the finish line in dealing with the financial regulation bill, to the chagrin of some senators and, no doubt, the satisfaction of others.
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