George W. Bush and Veto Power

George hasn't vetoed anything the Congress has pushed his way in the enitre five years he's been in office. Why, you ask? Well, there is a procedure by which he can avoid a veto, pass a bill into law, and ignore portions of that law that he doesn't like. That procedure is called a bill-signing statement.

The use of this statement reaches as far back as President Monroe, but Bush has used it over 500 times!

Here is an example from the Statement on Signing the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003, signed December 2, 2002:

"A number of provisions of the Act establish
new requirements for the executive branch
to furnish sensitive information to the Congress
on various subjects, including sections
221, 1043, 1065 (enacting 10 U.S.C.
127b(f)(2)(C)(ii) and (iii)), 1205, 1206, 1207,
and 1209 (enacting section 722 of Public Law
104–293). The executive branch shall construe
such provisions in a manner consistent
with the President’s constitutional authority
to withhold information the disclosure of
which could impair foreign relations, the national
security, the deliberative processes of
the Executive, or the performance of the Executive’s
constitutional duties."

The sections that are mentioned in the president's statement refer to the following reports:

BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE PROGRAMS

CONDUCT OF MILITARY OPERATIONS CONDUCTED AS PART OF OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM

REWARDS FOR ASSISTANCE IN COMBATING TERRORISM

COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON COORDINATION AND INTEGRATION OF ALL UNITED STATES NONPROLIFERATION ACTIVITIES

RUSSIAN PROLIFERATION TO IRAN AND OTHER COUNTRIES OF PROLIFERATION CONCERN

MONITORING OF IMPLEMENTATION OF 1979 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA ON COOPERATION IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

&

SEMIANNUAL REPORT BY DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE ON CONTRIBUTIONS BY FOREIGN PERSONS TO EFFORTS BY COUNTRIES OF PROLIFERATION CONCERN TO OBTAIN WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND THEIR DELIVERY SYSTEMS.

These are issues that the Congress should be given as much information as is available. What the president is saying, in effect, is: I won't give you this information. So I can do whatever the hell I want.

Christopher S. Kelley's 2003, Miami University-Ohio, dissertation "The Unitary Executive and the Presidential Signing Statement" the first sytematic study of the presidential signing statement. It's rather long, but enlightening.

Daily Kos post on the topic.

Knight-Ridder Jan. 6th, 2006 article on Bush's bill-signing statements.