Welcome to you. You have arrived at a plain text page in the LoveAllPeople.org network of web pages. To visit our regular HTML web pages, please copy the link below, and paste it into your Internet Explorer or other browser. Blessings to you. - Rev. Bill McGinnis Link to copy => http://www.loveallpeople.org/chapellinks.html In Naked Power Grab, Bush Denies All Congressional Authority Over Himself In Matters Of National Defense, Provokes Constitutional Crisis With Republican-Controlled Congress I didn't believe this press release when I first read it, but it's true, according to a Presidential statement released yesterday, just before the New Year's holiday. Here is the statement, with my comments inserted. Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051230-8.html (Public Domain) For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary December 30, 2005 Statement by the President Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2863, the "Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006." The Act provides resources needed to fight the war on terror, help citizens of the Gulf States recover from devastating hurricanes, and protect Americans from a potential influenza pandemic. Sections 8007, 8011, and 8093 of the Act prohibit the use of funds to initiate a special access program, a new overseas installation, or a new start program, unless the congressional defense committees receive advance notice. *** COMMENT: Here comes the power grab. He falsely claims Constitutional authority he simply does not have. When he says "a matter of comity," this means that he will do it only if he feels like it, not because he has to do it. True, he doesn't need a "legislative grant of authority," because he is able to act promptly on his own authority to respond to emergencies, as long as Congress has not specifically passed a law restricting his authority, as it did in this case. But if Congress does enact a restriction on his authority, that restriction must be followed, or else he can be impeached and removed from office for failing to follow such law. *** COMMENT, CONTINUED *** Here are the exact words of the Constitution on these matters: Congress Makes The Laws: "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." (See Article I, Section 1.) Yes, the President can veto any law he does not accept, but Congress can over-ride a veto with a two-thirds vote in both Houses of Congress. Thus Congress can enact laws against the will of the President. The President Administers The Laws That Congress Makes: "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." (See Article II, Section 1.) And the President is required to execute the laws faithfully, whether he agrees with them or not. Article II, Section 3 says, " . . . he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed . . ." So the President does not get to pick and choose which laws he will administer and which ones he will not administer. He is required by the Constitution to administer faithfully each and every law enacted by Congress. If he fails in this obligation, Congress can remove him from office. Article II, Section 4 says, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." (Failure to execute the laws would be a high misdemeanor.) The House Of Representatives has the sole power of impeachment: "The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment." (See Article I, Section 2.) And the Senate has the sole power to try these Impeachments. "The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. (See Article I. Section 3.) Furthermore, there is no limit on the degree to which Congress can micro-manage the President, if it chooses to do so. Yes, the President does have some implied powers, necessary to do his job, but these are immediately over-ridden if Congress exercises its authority to enact a law on the subject. As Commander In Chief, the President is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the military, including the responsibility for taking quick action in the event of time-sensitive emergencies. Article II, Section 2 says, "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;" But quick action for emergencies is quite different from setting long-term military policies. Some people believe that the President magically acquires new policy-making powers in his role as Commander In Chief. There is no Constitutional basis for this belief. In fact, the Constitution specifically says that Congress, not the President, has the authority to establish all the rules for the "government and regulation" of the military. "The Congress shall have Power . . . To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;" (See Article I, Section 8.) This affirms that Congress can exert detailed control over all aspects of the military, to whatever degree Congress chooses to exert it. The President's authority as Commander In Chief is only as great as Congress is willing to delegate to him. At any time, Congress could pass a law stripping the President of whatever authority he thinks he has over the military. The Constitution certainly does not provide the President with some kind of Personal Military, to control as he wishes. No. As in all other cases, the President acts as the agent and instrument of Congress, faithfully executing the laws enacted by Congress, and subject to removal if he fails to perform this job. *** END OF COMMENT **** (Now the President continues . . . ) The Supreme Court of the United States has stated that the President's authority to classify and control access to information bearing on the national security flows from the Constitution and does not depend upon a legislative grant of authority. Although the advance notice contemplated by sections 8007, 8011, and 8093 can be provided in most situations as a matter of comity, situations may arise, especially in wartime, in which the President must act promptly under his constitutional grants of executive power and authority as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces while protecting certain extraordinarily sensitive national security information. The executive branch shall construe these sections in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President. *** COMMENT: The power grab continues *** Section 8059 of the Act provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds available to the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2006 may be used to transfer defense articles or services, other than intelligence services, to another nation or an international organization for international peacekeeping, peace enforcement, or humanitarian assistance operations, until 15 days after the executive branch notifies six committees of the Congress of the planned transfer. To the extent that protection of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed for international peacekeeping, peace enforcement, or humanitarian assistance operations might require action of a kind covered by section 8059 sooner than 15 days after notification, the executive branch shall construe the section in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority as Commander in Chief. *** COMMENT: The President's Constitutional requirement is to faithfully execute whatever laws Congress may enact. *** A proviso in the Act's appropriation for "Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide" purports to prohibit planning for consolidation of certain offices within the Department of Defense. Also, sections 8010(b), 8032, 8037(b), and 8100 purport to specify the content of portions of future budget requests to the Congress. The executive branch shall construe these provisions relating to planning and making of budget recommendations in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to require the opinions of the heads of departments, to supervise the unitary executive branch, and to recommend for congressional consideration such measures as the President shall judge necessary and expedient. *** COMMENT: The power grab continues *** Section 8005 of the Act, relating to requests to congressional committees for reprogramming of funds, shall be construed as calling solely for notification, as any other construction would be inconsistent with the constitutional principles enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States in INS v. Chadha. The executive branch shall construe section 8104, relating to integration of foreign intelligence information, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority as Commander in Chief, including for the conduct of intelligence operations, and to supervise the unitary executive branch. Also, the executive branch shall construe sections 8106 and 8119 of the Act, which purport to prohibit the President from altering command and control relationships within the Armed Forces, as advisory, as any other construction would be inconsistent with the constitutional grant to the President of the authority of Commander in Chief. The executive branch shall construe provisions of the Act relating to race, ethnicity, gender, and State residency, such as sections 8014, 8020 and 8057, in a manner consistent with the requirement to afford equal protection of the laws under the Due Process Clause of the Constitution's Fifth Amendment. The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidenced in Title X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks. Further, in light of the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States in 2001 in Alexander v. Sandoval, and noting that the text and structure of Title X do not create a private right of action to enforce Title X, the executive branch shall construe Title X not to create a private right of action. Finally, given the decision of the Congress reflected in subsections 1005(e) and 1005(h) that the amendments made to section 2241 of title 28, United States Code, shall apply to past, present, and future actions, including applications for writs of habeas corpus, described in that section, and noting that section 1005 does not confer any constitutional right upon an alien detained abroad as an enemy combatant, the executive branch shall construe section 1005 to preclude the Federal courts from exercising subject matter jurisdiction over any existing or future action, including applications for writs of habeas corpus, described in section 1005. Language in Division B of the Act, under the heading "Office of Justice Programs, State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance," purports to require the Attorney General to consult congressional committees prior to allocating appropriations for expenditure to execute the law. Because the President's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and take care that the laws be faithfully executed cannot be made by law subject to a requirement to consult with congressional committees or to involve them in executive decision-making, the executive branch shall construe the provision to require only notification. At the same time, the Attorney General shall, as a matter of comity between the executive and legislative branches, seek and consider the views of appropriate committees in this matter as the Attorney General deems appropriate. Certain provisions in the Act purport to allocate funds for specified purposes as set forth in the joint explanatory statement of managers that accompanied the Act or other Acts; to make changes in statements of managers that accompanied various appropriations bills reported from conferences in the past; or to direct compliance with a committee report. Such provisions include section 8044 in Division A, and sections 5022, 5023, and 5024 and language under the heading "Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conservation Operations" in Division B, of the Act. Other provisions of the Act, such as sections 8073 and 8082 in Division A, purport to give binding effect to legislative documents not presented to the President. The executive branch shall construe all these provisions in a manner consistent with the bicameral passage and presentment requirements of the Constitution for the making of a law. ***COMMENT: Bush has basically told Congress and the American People to go away and stop bothering him about anything to do with National Defense. If this isn't grounds for impeachment and removal from office, I can't imagine what would be.*** Blessings to you. God help us all. Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director, LoveAllPeople.org GEORGE W. BUSH THE WHITE HOUSE, December 30, 2005.