[Vision2020] Bush Cites Authority to Bypass FEMA Law

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (October 6, 2006) Boston Globe -

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Bush cites authority to bypass FEMA law
Signing statement is employed again
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff  |  October 6, 2006

WASHINGTON -- President Bush this week asserted that he has the executive
authority to disobey a new law in which Congress has set minimum
qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Congress passed the law last week as a response to FEMA's poor handling of
Hurricane Katrina. The agency's slow response to flood victims exposed the
fact that Michael Brown, Bush's choice to lead the agency, had been a
politically connected hire with no prior experience in emergency management.

To shield FEMA from cronyism, Congress established new job qualifications
for the agency's director in last week's homeland security bill. The law
says the president must nominate a candidate who has ``a demonstrated
ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and ``not less than five
years of executive leadership."

Bush signed the homeland-security bill on Wednesday morning. Then, hours
later, he issued a signing statement saying he could ignore the new
restrictions. Bush maintains that under his interpretation of the
Constitution, the FEMA provision interfered with his power to make personnel
decisions.

The law, Bush wrote, ``purports to limit the qualifications of the pool of
persons from whom the president may select the appointee in a manner that
rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and
knowledge to fill the office." 

The homeland-security bill contained measures covering a range of topics,
including terrorism, disaster preparedness, and illegal immigration. One
provision calls for authorizing the construction of a 700-mile fence along
the Mexican border.

But Bush's signing statement challenged at least three-dozen laws specified
in the bill. Among those he targeted is a provision that empowers the FEMA
director to tell Congress about the nation's emergency management needs
without White House permission. This law, Bush said, ``purports . . . to
limit supervision of an executive branch official in the provision of advice
to the Congress." Despite the law, he said, the FEMA director would be
required to get clearance from the White House before telling lawmakers
anything.

Bush said nothing of his objections when he signed the bill with a flourish
in a ceremony Wednesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. At the time, he proclaimed that
the bill was ``an important piece of legislation that will highlight our
government's highest responsibility, and that's to protect the American
people."

The bill, he added, ``will also help our government better respond to
emergencies and natural disasters by strengthening the capabilities of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency."

Bush's remarks at the signing ceremony were quickly e-mailed to reporters,
and the White House website highlighted the ceremony. By contrast, the White
House minimized attention to the signing statement. When asked by the Globe
on Wednesday afternoon if there would be a signing statement, the press
office declined to comment, saying only that any such document, if it
existed, would be issued in the ``usual way."

The press office posted the signing-statement document on its website around
8 p.m. Wednesday, after most reporters had gone home. The signing statement
was not included in news reports yesterday on the bill-signing.

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine and chairwoman of the Senate
Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, who has been one of the
harshest critics of FEMA's performance during Katrina, yesterday rejected
Bush's suggestion that he can bypass the new FEMA laws.

Responding to questions from the Globe, Collins said there are numerous
precedents for Congress establishing qualifications for executive branch
positions, ranging from the solicitor general's post to the director of the
Fish and Wildlife Service.

She also said that Congress has long authorized certain officials from a
variety of departments ``to go directly to Congress with recommendations,"
pointing out that the FEMA director statute was modeled after a law that
gives similar independence to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at
the Pentagon.

``I believe it is appropriate to extend this authority to the official
tasked with leading the nation's response to disasters," she said.

Georgetown Law School professor Martin Lederman said Congress clearly has
the power to set standards for positions such as the FEMA director, so long
as the requirements leave a large enough pool of qualified candidates that
the White House has ``ample room for choice."

``It's hard to imagine a more modest and reasonable congressional response
to the Michael Brown fiasco," said Lederman, who worked in the Justice
Department's Office of Legal Counsel from 1994 to 2002.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment about its signing
statement.

In the past, the administration has defended the legality of its signing
statements. It has also argued that because Congress often lumps many laws
into a single package, it is sometimes impractical to veto a large bill on
the basis of some parts being flawed .

At a June hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a Bush
administration attorney, Michelle Boardman , noted that other US presidents
have also used signing statements. She asserted that Bush's statements ``are
not an abuse of power."

Bush's use of signing statements has attracted increasing attention over the
past year. In December 2005, Bush asserted that he can bypass a statutory
ban on torture. In March 2006, the president said he can disobey oversight
provisions in the Patriot Act reauthorization bill.

In all, Bush has challenged more than 800 laws enacted since he took office,
most of which he said intruded on his constitutional powers as president and
commander in chief. By contrast, all previous presidents challenged a
combined total of about 600 laws.

At the same time, Bush has virtually abandoned his veto power, giving
Congress no chance to override his judgments. Bush has vetoed just one bill
since taking office, the fewest of any president since the 19th century.

Earlier this year, the American Bar Association declared that Bush's use of
signing statements was ``contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional
separation of powers."

Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded that
Bush's signing statements are ``an integral part" of his ``comprehensive
strategy to strengthen and expand executive power" at the expense of the
legislative branch.

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Dang it!  

First there was them dang activist judges.  Now we done got ourselves an
activist legislature.  Where will it all lead?  Where will it end?  

T minus 32 days and counting . . . 

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Vandalville, Idaho

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"*Why* a person does what he does is at least as important as the objective
behavior."

- Princess Sushitushi (September 10, 2006)

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