Barack Obama

White House: Obama's Signing Statements Are Legit -- Unlike Bush's

Susan Crabtree | April 18, 2011, 4:09PM

President Barack Obama

The White House is disputing any notion that President Obama broke a campaign promise by using a signing statement to ignore Congress' attempt to defund the positions of four so-called administration czars.

The President in the early evening on Friday -- a time notorious for news dumps -- raised reporters' and his critics hackles by adding a signing statement to the resolution that funds the federal government through September and avoids a government shutdown. The signing statement suggests Obama would ignore some parts of the deal, including language defunding the czars overseeing healthcare, climate change, the auto industry and urban affairs. Republicans have long lambasted Obama's use of czars, senior presidential advisers on major issues who do not require Senate confirmation.

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