Chris over at Talk Left quotes Bush's demand that lawmakers stay in DC to finish putting together amendments to the FISA court system, and then asks:
What constitutional provision empowers the president to order the legislature to remain in session so that it can enact another one of his bad laws?
The answer is found in Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution, which states:
he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper;
The president can in fact call a special session of congress. He hasn't yet done that of course, but the power is there. And to be honest, I hope he uses that power. Rather than rush to authorize a program that the FISA Court recently rule illegal, it would be far better if congress stuck around, held hearings and investigations, and got to the bottom of what the president has been doing for the past 5 years before authorizing anything.
UPDATE: Spencer Ackerman adds an interesting twist to the story of the ongoing negotiations:
A key Democrat in the negotiations, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), says that a deal had in fact been reached with McConnell, who has been busy lobbying Congress on a FISA update all week. "We had an agreement with DNI McConnell," Hoyer spokeswoman Stacey Bernards tells TPMmuckraker, "and then the White House quashed the agreement."
Naturally Bush blames the Democrats all this.
Want more details on the bill? Ackerman's got you covered. And over at ThinkProgress, Matt provides a brief but nevertheless thorough recap that helps explain why we're talking about all this in the first place.
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