Bush nullifies law requiring FEMA head to be qualified

[lwcon]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/07/MNGH9LKPSU1.DTL

President Bush reserved the right to ignore key changes in Congress' overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- including a requirement to appoint someone with experience handling disasters as the agency's director -- in setting aside dozens of provisions contained in a major homeland security spending bill this week.

Besides objecting to Congress' list of qualifications for FEMA's director, the White House claimed the right to edit or withhold reports to Congress by a watchdog agency within the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for protecting Americans' personal privacy.

The standards for the FEMA director were inspired by criticism of former FEMA chief Michael Brown's performance after Hurricane Katrina last year. Brown, a lawyer and judge of Arabian horses, had no experience in disaster response before joining FEMA.

Bush's moves came in a controversial assertion of executive authority known as a "signing statement," which the White House issued late Wednesday, the same day Bush signed the $34.8 billion measure. Congress has assailed the unprecedented extent of Bush's use of signing statements to reinterpret or repudiate measures approved by lawmakers instead of exercising a formal veto.

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Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[mrdmk]

1. I have another term for it, "Breaking the Law"!

This guy is incapable of learning anything.

[thecrow]

2. I have a signing statement too:

We the people of the United States of America hereby outrightly REJECT any of Bush**'s signing statements as they are not representative of the will of the people nor of the will of the Congress of the United States of America, whose LAWS Bush** is WILLFULLY breaking EVERY TIME he signs one.

TREASONOUS BASTARD!