[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 258 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 258

   To prevent the President from encroaching upon the Congressional 
           prerogative to make laws, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 2009

   Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas introduced the following bill; which was 
      referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To prevent the President from encroaching upon the Congressional 
           prerogative to make laws, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Congressional Lawmaking Authority 
Protection Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Framers of the Constitution understood that the 
        power to make laws is such an awesome power that they intended 
        it to be exercised by the most democratic branch of government.
            (2) To ensure that the lawmaking power would be exercised 
        by the branch of government that is the closest and most 
        accountable to the people the Constitution provides that ``All 
        legislative power herein granted shall be vested in a Congress 
        of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House 
        of Representatives.''.
            (3) The Constitution limits the role of the President in 
        the lawmaking process to--
                    (A) giving Congress information on the State of the 
                Union;
                    (B) recommending to Congress for consideration such 
                measures as the President deems necessary and 
                expedient; and
                    (C) approving or vetoing bills and joint 
                resolutions presented to him for signature.
            (4) Statements made by the President contemporaneously with 
        the signing of a bill or joint resolution that express the 
        President's interpretation of the scope, constitutionality, and 
        intent of Congress in enacting the bill or joint resolution 
        presented for signature encroach upon the power to make laws 
        that the Framers vested solely in the Congress.
            (5) According to a May 5, 2006, editorial in the New York 
        Times, the current President of the United States has issued 
        more than 750 ``presidential signing statements'' declaring he 
        would not do what the laws required, the most notorious example 
        of which is the signing statement issued by the President 
        asserting he was not bound by the Congressional ban on the 
        torture of prisoners.
            (6) On June 5, 2006, the American Bar Association created a 
        10-member Blue-Ribbon ``Task Force on Presidential Signing 
        Statements and the Separation of Powers Doctrine'' to take a 
        balanced, scholarly look at the use and implications of signing 
        statements, and to propose appropriate ABA policy consistent 
        with the ABA's commitment to safeguarding the rule of law and 
        the separation of powers in our system of government.
            (7) On July 24, 2006, the Task Force determined that 
        signing statements that signal the president's intent to 
        disregard laws adopted by Congress undermine the separation of 
        powers by depriving Congress of the opportunity to override a 
        veto, and by shutting off policy debate between the two 
        branches of government. According to the Task Force, such 
        presidential signing statements operate as a ``line item 
        veto,'' which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 
        unconstitutional. The Task Force strongly recommended the 
        Congress to enact appropriate legislation to ensure that such 
        presidential signing statements do not undermine the rule of 
        law and the constitutional system of separation of powers.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to preserve the separation of powers intended by the 
        Framers by preventing the President from encroaching upon the 
        Congressional prerogative to make law; and
            (2) to ensure that no Federal or State executive or 
        independent agency, and no Federal or State judge, can attach 
        legal significance to any presidential signing statement when 
        construing any law enacted by the Congress.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.

    (a) Limitation on Use of Funds.--None of the funds made available 
to the Executive Office of the President, or to any Executive agency 
(as defined in section 105 of title 5 of the United States Code), from 
any source may be used to produce, publish, or disseminate any 
statement made by the President contemporaneously with the signing of 
any bill or joint resolution presented for signing by the President.
    (b) Application of Limitation.--Subsection (a) shall apply only to 
statements made by the President regarding the bill or joint resolution 
presented for signing that contradict, or are inconsistent with, the 
intent of Congress in enacting the bill or joint resolution or that 
otherwise encroach upon the Congressional prerogative to make laws.

SEC. 4. CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF ACTS OF CONGRESS.

    For purposes of construing or applying any Act enacted by the 
Congress, a governmental entity shall not take into consideration any 
statement made by the President contemporaneously with the President's 
signing of the bill or joint resolution that becomes such Act.
                                 <all>