You may have heard that, under the Constitution, "Congress controls the purse strings."
This means funding, and defunding, of programs, agencies, initiatives, and even personnel is controlled by Congress. This has always granted a certain amount of security to Americans. It's comforting to know that, if a president goes off the deep end (say, to start an undeclared war in Libya), Congress could always reign him in by defunding the effort.
Of course, the president may veto a bill that funds or defunds a federal initiative. However, he cannot do a "line item veto" of a specific provision of a bill he doesn't like. (The Supreme Court ruled on this in Clinton versus New York City.)
Historically, when the language of a bill is ambiguous, the president may add a signing statement to indicate his interpretation of a bill's ambiguous language. That's fine. But if the language is not ambiguous, the president has no constitutional authority to ignore a provision of a law he simply dislikes.
Well, President Obama ("the annointed one") transcends the quaint notion of separation of powers as outlined in the US Constitution. According to Talking Points Media, On Friday, 15 April 2011, in a despicable betrayal of the budget deal Obama heralded just one week before, President Flimflam overruled Congressional defunding of four Czar positions.
No, he didn't veto the bill he helped negotiate; instead, he simply issued a signing statement saying he (as king?) would simply ignore that part of the law. His signing statement could have been headlined:
To Congress: Damn The Constitution! Full Speed Ahead! (PS. Screw You)
Hey Independents: Are you going to be stupid again in 2012 and fall for President Flimflam's rosy rhetoric and glib generalities? Or, will you finally believe what you can see with your own eyes?
Just watch the video below and you'll see why Obama is one person who's word is not to be trusted in budget deals. He will lie straight to your face, and when you call him on it, tell you that you must have misunderstood.
