King George Has a Secret

George Bush has a secret–lots of them. He is even breaking the law by keeping some of these secrets from Congress. The Boston Globe reveals the latest of George Bush’s secrets to come out. King George believes, once again, that he is above the law and is not required to obey requirements in the Patriot Act that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using expanded police powers provided under the act:

The bill contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers. The provisions require Justice Department officials to keep closer track of how often the FBI uses the new powers and in what type of situations. Under the law, the administration would have to provide the information to Congress by certain dates.

Bush signed the bill with fanfare at a White House ceremony March 9, calling it ‘’a piece of legislation that’s vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people.” But after the reporters and guests had left, the White House quietly issued a ‘’signing statement,” an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law.

In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law’s requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ‘’impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive’s constitutional duties.”

This isn’t the first time King George felt he was above the law. The warrantless NSA wiretaps are the most publicized act recently, but there are many more. Bush kept the cost of his Medicare prescription drug program secret from Congress, even threatening to fire Richard S. Foster, the chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services if he testified before Congress about the true cost of the program. Bush manipulated intelligence to deceive Congress and the public about the lack of a threat from WMD. The Bush administration also diverted $700 million appropriated for use in Afghanistan for use to prepare for an invasion of Iraq without informing Congress.