Boston Globe: 3 senators slam Bush on FEMA provision

[Eugene]

3 senators slam Bush on FEMA provision
President says he can bypass law

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | October 12, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Three US senators yesterday blasted President Bush for claiming
that he has the power to disobey a new law requiring that anyone he nominates
to be director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency be experienced
in disaster relief.

After signing the law last week, Bush issued a statement saying that under his
interpretation of the Constitution, Congress cannot set limits on who he
nominates as FEMA director. But three key senators who supported the measure
criticized the claim in a letter to Bush yesterday.

"We were dismayed . . . by the `signing statement' in which you express your
intention to disregard provisions in the law intended to protect against further
mistakes such as those that plagued the 2005 hurricane response," the senators
wrote . " Disregarding provisions in the act that are intended to strengthen
standards is a move in the wrong direction."

The letter was signed by Senators Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who chairs
the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee; Joseph I.
Lieberman of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the committee; and Mary
Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat who represents New Orleans, which was
devastated by Hurricane Katrina last year.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/12/3_senators_slam_bush_on_fema_provision

[cornermouse]

1. Bush is an idiot and a bully.

Of all the things that he has done, this is something that is in such direct opposition to what we learned from New Orleans and Katrina, commonsense, and just plain old-fashioned decency that it is almost incomprehensible that he would even dare to try to pull this. He's either unforgiveably stupid or he's mentally ill.