Bush bucks Congress on privacy reporting

Bush bucks Congress on privacy reporting
By Leslie Miller
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published October 6, 2006


WASHINGTON -- President Bush, again defying Congress, says he has the power to edit reports by the Homeland Security Department about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watch lists.

In the law Bush signed Wednesday, Congress stated that no one but the privacy officer could alter, delay or prohibit the mandatory annual report on Homeland Security Department activities that affect privacy, including complaints.

But Bush, in a signing statement attached to the agency's 2007 spending bill, said he will interpret that section "in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said it's appropriate for the administration to know what reports go to Congress and to review them.

"There can be a discussion on whether to accept a change or a nuance," she said.

The American Bar Association and members of Congress have said Bush uses signing statements excessively as a way to expand his power.

The Senate held hearings on the issue in June. At the time, 110 statements challenged about 750 statutes passed by Congress, according to numbers combined from the White House and the Senate committee.

Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg said Bush is trying to subvert lawmakers' ability to accurately monitor activities of the executive branch.

"The Homeland Security Department has been setting up watch lists to determine who gets on planes, who gets government jobs, who gets employed," said Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Homeland Security agencies check airline passengers' names against terrorist watch lists and detain them if there's a match. They are working on several kinds of biometric identification cards that millions of people would have to carry.

Bush's signing statement Wednesday challenges several other provisions in the Homeland Security spending bill.

Bush, for example, said he would disregard a requirement that the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency must have at least five years of experience and "demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security."

His rationale was that it "rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office."