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Discussing The Conflict Between The Bush Administration And Congress Over Signing Statements

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Presidential Signing Statements When the President is presented with a bill to sign into law he has two choices under the Constitution. He can veto the law under Article I Section VII or faithfully execute the law under Article II Section III. Many political pundits believe that signing statements are illegal because they go against the presidential oath office. While others believe signing statements give the president more power, which goes against the system of checks and balances. Some members of Congress say that signing statements defeats the purpose of the law. In this paper I will discuss what signing statements are and what role they play in the different presidential administrations. I will then discuss the conflict between the Bush administration and Congress over signing statements. A presidential signing statements is a written comment issued by a President at the time of signing legislation (Woolley). When signing a bill to law, the President can write a comment about how he plans to authorize the bill. Many presidential sign statements are expressing the President’s opinion about the legislation. There are many types of signing statements that are controversial, because they can dictate which portions of a bill the president would not execute because it might infringe on the executive powers granted in the Constitution (Moyers). Before President Reagan, the Presidency had only ever issued 75 signing statements (Moyers). Presidential signing

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