Constitutional violation story finally getting into MSM

[LuckyTheDog]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/23/D8GHGRRG0.html

WASHINGTON


House Democrats want President Bush to say whether he knew of what they call a "fundamental constitutional problem" with the $39 billion deficit reduction package he signed last month.

A letter to Bush, signed by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Henry Waxman of California and released Thursday, is the latest challenge to a bill that was passed in slightly different forms by the House and Senate before it was sent to Bush.

"A bill is not law unless the same version is passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by the president," top Democrats wrote to Bush. He signed it on Feb. 8.

The Senate version of the bill said Medicare can pay to rent some types of medical equipment for 13 months, as intended by congressional negotiators. A clerk erroneously wrote down 36 months before the bill was sent back to the House for a final vote, and that's what the House approved Feb. 1.

By the time the bill was shipped to Bush, the number was back to 13 months as passed by the Senate.
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I started a thread about this on March 18:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=695985&mesg_id=695985

[silverweb]

1. Keep up the drumbeat.

Bush swore to uphold the Constitution, but has consistently and systematically violated it in every respect since day #1.

[On the Road]

2. If Everyone Agrees It's an Error

it's probably not a big deal. If it was intentionally different -- THEN it is a big deal. I would not put it past them to try to bend the law at every opportunity, if only just to see how much they can get away with.

[LuckyTheDog]

4. Waxman says Hastert gave Bush a head's up

If that's the case, and Bush still signed the bill, then that is HUGE.

[stillcool]

3. It really is bordering on insanity....

I wonder how many letters Rep. Waxman alone has sent to the President concerning illegalities of this administration....trickle-down lawlessness compared to trickle-down economy will be interesting to watch.

{div class="excerpt"]Others do not. A liberal watchdog group, Public Citizen, filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a federal court to throw the budget bill out. A Republican activist also has sued in federal court in Alabama.

[FatDave]

5. And here I thought it would be over the wiretapping

Somebody wrote down the wrong number and the president signed it? So no intent then?

Look, if we press this we're going to come off looking fucking stupid. "Look at the democrats! They just want to attack the president at every opportunity!" Let it go, man, let it go.

[LuckyTheDog]

6. If Bush knew and did it anyway it is a big deal

The Constitution has to mean something.

[FatDave]

7. If Bush admits he knew, then sure, we've got something

But if he says "oops, mistake, I didn't know" (as he surely will) then it's nothing. It would be silly to press the issue and it'll do democrats more harm than good. We've got very real offenses to nail the SOB on, we should focus on those.