Today’s Christian Science Monitor reports that President Bush has made history by being the first President to go five years without vetoing a single piece of legislation.
Like pardons and executive orders, vetoes are among the cherished privileges of the Oval Office. Ike liked them. So did presidents Truman and Cleveland – and both Roosevelts.
But apparently not George W. Bush. In fact, well into the fifth year of his presidency, he has yet to issue a single veto.
It’s a streak unmatched in modern American history, one that throws into question traditional notions of checks and balances.
Partly, of course, this is due to the fact that the Republicans have controlled both Houses of Congress for all of Bush’s Presidency, but not even FDR had as much success keeping his Congressional “partners” in line. Additionally, this is interesting for more than just reasons of historical trivia, it is a reflection on the governing style of the Bush Administration and yet another example of how fiscal restraint is no longer a concern with Bush Republicans.
On many major bills that Bush has signed – No Child Left Behind and tax relief, for example – the veto was never a consideration because the White House itself had proposed the legislation. Yet on dozens of other bills, the president has become a rubber stamp for a spendthrift Congress, betraying his campaign image as a fiscal conservative, critics say.
“The notion of limited government and frugal government has been shattered by this administration, which cares far less about limited government than it does in building conservative government – a government with huge payoffs to corporate America,” says Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University in Washington.
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Bush, however, hasn’t even used the veto on legislation he deemed unconstitutional, such as the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform he signed in 2002. That can be read as a sign of weakness, says Matthew Spalding, an expert on American political history at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. “Veto power has withered away from disuse.”
If there’s any piece of legislation that should’ve been vetoed, it was McCain-Feingold, and initially it seemed like Bush was going to do the right thing and veto it. Instead, he signed it after getting minor modifications that did nothing to alleviate the abhorrent aspects of the bill. That is a reflection of political pragmatism with absolutely no principle behind it. And that’s the state of American government today.
Hat Tip: Hit & Run
