Floor Statement of Senator Carl Levin on Bush's Signing Statement on FY 2008 National Defense Authorization Act

January 29, 2008 -- "Mr. President, yesterday the President signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. This Act is essentially the same as a bill that the President vetoed last month.

In his signing statement, the President identified a few provisions of the Act and stated that they “purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations ....” The President’s statement went on to say that “The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.”

The specific provisions that the President cited relate to a Commission to study and submit reports to Congress on wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan; enhanced protections from reprisal for contractor employees who disclose evidence of waste, fraud, or abuse on Department of Defense contracts; a requirement for offices within the intelligence community to respond to written requests from the Chairman or Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committees for intelligence assessments, reports, estimates, or legal opinions within 45 days unless the President asserts a privilege pursuant to the Constitution of the United States; and a limitation on the use of funds appropriated pursuant to this Act to establish a military base or installation for the permanent stationing of U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq, or to exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq.

Mr. President, I understand that the President’s statement did not say that these specific provisions or any other provisions of the Act are unlawful, nor that the executive branch would not implement these provisions. I also understand that similar statements have been included in signing statements on a number of laws by this President, and that those statements did not result in the refusal to enforce the law as written.

Nevertheless, I believe it is important to come to the floor as the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee to express the view that Congress has a right to expect that the Administration will faithfully implement all of the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 – not just the ones the President happens to agree with.

As I noted at the outset, the President vetoed an earlier version of this Act, which contained the same specific provisions that he singled out in his signing statement yesterday. The President did not choose to exercise his veto over these provisions, and as a result they have not changed in any way whatsoever in the version of the bill he chose to sign. With his signature these provisions become the law of the land. Congress and the American people have a right to expect that the Administration will now faithfully carry them out."

Source: Senator Carl Levin