Bush "Veto" Cancels Bonuses For Troops

But Congressional Critics Say Pocket Veto Is Invalid; Meanwhile, Troops Are Shortchanged

(CBS)  Over the holidays, the White House made a surprising announcement: after months of negotiations and urgent demands from the president for passage of a Defense Department spending bill, the legislation - passed by wide margins in both the House and Senate - was being rejected by President Bush.

In announcing the move on Dec. 28, President Bush said that provisions in H.R. 1585 would have potentially frozen Iraqi assets in the U.S., and also made the government of Iraq vulnerable to litigation for crimes dating back to the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The move raised a couple of intriguing questions: one, since the president has already issued more than 1,100 signing statements in which he has selectively chosen which provisions of the law he will or will not enforce, why did he not sign one on this issue? (In fact, this week he issued another signing statement to preempt enforcement of a law that would make it easier for state and local governments, as well as private investors, to divest themselves of assets in Sudan, to protest the genocide in Darfur.) And two, is the veto even valid?

And in the wake of the controversy, a sad fact remains: a congressionally-backed pay raise for troops and bonuses for new recruits are on hold.

What The Meaning Of "Veto" Is

According to the Constitution, if a bill sent to the president is not acted upon (signed or vetoed) within 10 days, it becomes law. The only exception is if Congress is adjourned when the 10 days expires.

The White House said that Mr. Bush's return of the unsigned bill amounts to a "pocket veto" and thereby precludes it from becoming law. A 1929 ruling in The "Pocket Veto" Case is cited as the legal basis for claiming that returning a bill to an adjourned Congress, unable to override a President's veto, means the veto is absolute and cannot be overridden.

Mr. Bush added, in a "Memorandum of Disapproval," that he expected the legal argument would be accepted to "avoid unnecessary litigation about the non-enactment of the bill that results from my withholding approval and to leave no doubt that the bill is being vetoed."

However, Congress isn’t biting, and it has much to do with later legal cases and the definition of "Congress."

A spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Mr. Bush's rejection of the bill did not constitute a pocket veto, and that the bill would be treated as any other returned bill to Congress - open to an override vote when all House and Senate members return in mid-January.

House Democrats have a point: According to a 1938 case, Wright v. United States, the Supreme Court held that if at least one chamber of Congress is open, Congress is not considered adjourned.

While the House was out of session over the holiday break, the Senate was in pro forma session (Majority Leader Harry Reid's strategy to protect against recess appointments).

The White House claims that the House, where the defense bill originated, was out of session, and consequently the pocket veto stands.

“It’s our view that bill then would not become law,” White House Spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

If Congress overrides the veto, will the White House insist the law is invalid? If Congress re-sends the same bill for signature, will the president veto it outright, knowing Congress isn’t closing its doors soon?

While the administration and Congress engage in a constitutional tug-of-war, the Pentagon said that, with the defense spending bill on hold, it could only move forward with a 3 percent military raise in mid-January instead of the 3.5 percent raise approved in the bill.

Meanwhile, the military faces the added difficulty of finding new recruits, or in encouraging current troops and officers to re-up, when promises of a signing bonus cannot be delivered.

The Army Times noted that the cuts in bonuses affect a wide range of programs for officers and enlisted personnel in both active and reserve groups, including enlistment and reenlistment bonuses, retention incentives for soldiers with specialized skills and career aviation officers who extend active duty service; accession bonuses for officer candidates; special pay for Selected Reserve health care professionals in critically short-handed wartime specialties; repayment of education loans for certain health professionals who serve in the Selected Reserve; and bonuses for Nurse Corps officer candidates, registered nurses, nurse anesthetists and other medical and dental specialists.

The White House has said that it would work with Congress to "fix" the Iraqi provisions, and make any delayed pay raise retroactive to January 1. But Congress may be more willing to go the override route. (The House passed the bill by a vote of 370-49; the Senate vote was even more persuasive: 90-3.)

Meanwhile, soldiers' wallets will be a little lighter than promised.

By CBSNews.com producer David Morgan.

[neobrian-2009]

ERADICATE SHRUB NOW !!!
The Evil Roots of King W need to be entwined with snakes. This greedy amoeba-brain has destroyed our country.With the help of Dead eye Dicck and all his criminal cohorts ,they have made the biggest mess in history.
Do your part ! Friends don`t let friends vote republicon.
Let`s return to our constitution.Let`s return the government to the people.Let`s put Shrub where he belongs,in prison.

[underdogus]

check out his mug....Why''d you have to go and make me so constipated? I sit and wait I strain and I sweat and I clench....

[Con Mohrat]

Since the days when he hid from the Viet Nam war, Bush has repeatedly and openly shown his contempt for the U.S. Military.

He sent them to war without body armor, vehicle armor for for first few years. Parents of soldiers and marines had to buy them for their kids in combat.

And the final insult: Rat and mildew infested Walter Reed. An underfunded and understaff VA, who had a penchant for making wounded soldiers sign statements saying they had "previous injuries or health problems.

How will the US Military vote this year?

Bush is crapping all over our constitution. He needs to be impeached.

[liberalme]

Yes, we can see who "supports the troops." I don''''t want to hear one more Bush apologist telling anyone that by not supporting Bush and his fiasco in Iraq, that they are traitors and don''''t support the troops. Bush is the worst thing that has happened to the military in the history of the US. It is those of us who don''''t support Bush that really care about the troops. Maybe the troops will be a little more thoughful with their votes next time and not just vote for a president that acts like he supports the military.
Posted by kansas1946 at 05:29 PM : Jan 04, 2008

That''s providing the troop votes count this time--remember last election, MANY either weren''t counted or "lost" The troops had no say in the last election.

[wheezel3]

Bush is such a gddmn''d loser.

[kansas1946]

Yes, we can see who "supports the troops." I don''t want to hear one more Bush apologist telling anyone that by not supporting Bush and his fiasco in Iraq, that they are traitors and don''t support the troops. Bush is the worst thing that has happened to the military in the history of the US. It is those of us who don''t support Bush that really care about the troops. Maybe the troops will be a little more thoughful with their votes next time and not just vote for a president that acts like he supports the military.

[ricardosolar]

I want him tried for Crimes against Humanity

[sgtrds]

Bush served Valiantly during nam.
He was airborne saving Texas from Oklahoma!!!

Posted by Quetzal666

I thought he was bravely keeping a desk chair on the ground in that awful battlefield in a Congressman''''s office in Alabama?

Posted by Fornicario at 02:08 PM : Jan 04, 2008

He was the executive officer in charge of holding bar stools down and keeping the local cocaine economy going. Did a wonderful job of each!

[liberalme]

Come on "fellow Americans" ole Bushie does have a wedding to pay for--where better to get the money than off the backs of our troops!