Apparently the senator wants to make it legal for Congress to sue the President of the United States for refusing to enforce laws.
(I blogged about this refusal, made public in the form of “signing statements,” earlier this month.)
I’m sure that Specter doesn’t actually expect to pass a law like this (or get it signed), but proposing it is a way to bring more attention to Bush’s apparent disrespect for the process of lawmaking.
Through the magic of the Internet, you can listen to NPR’s take on the story from their site. My only problem with the report is that it notes that every recent president has written signing statements, but that Bush has “issued more signing statements than any of his predecessors.”
That understatement obscures why Congress is getting so upset about this. It’s more to the point to say that Bush has issued more signing statements than all of his predecessors put together!
[I got the link to NPR from Wonkette, who thought that one part was funny.]