Senators will move ahead with wartime contracting commission despite Bush concerns

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. senators say they will push ahead with a presidential commission designed to root out waste and fraud in military contracts despite President George W. Bush's objections that it could usurp his presidential authority.

Bush signed into law a wide-ranging defense bill on Monday that included instructions to create a commission to probe defense contracts in Iraq and  Afghanistan. It is modeled after a similar commission that President Harry Truman created in the 1940s to uncover abuse in World War II military contracts.

Along with his signature, Bush singled out the commission and three other provisions that could purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the president's ability to carry out his constitutional obligations.

So-called signing statements» are a controversial tool in which the president signs a bill into law but notes portions he might ignore.

Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat who sponsored the provision with fellow Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, said Congress intends to move forward with setting up the eight-member commission.

Designed to make the contracting process more accountable, the commission would be bipartisan, with four members appointed by Democratic congressional leaders, two by Republican leaders, one by the president and one by the Secretary of Defense. Panel members would be professionals with expertise in government contracting.


“We don't quite know what the administration intends with this sort of language, but I want all my colleagues to be aware of it and to be aware that it potentially is an infringement on the rights of this legislative body, in effect saying that the president has the authority to ignore a law that is now passed, a law that he has now signed,” Webb said on the floor Tuesday.

In the signing statement, Bush also reserved the right to ignore expanded whistle-blower protections for government contract workers, requirements that U.S. intelligence agencies respond quickly to congressional requests and a prohibition on federal dollars for permanent military bases in Iraq.

Several senators spoke out in favor of the wartime contracting commission Tuesday. McCaskill said the president should welcome the bipartisan effort to improve government contracting.


“It would be devastating for any president to stand in the way of true accountability for war profiteering while men and women are losing their lives,” she said.

On Wednesday, executives from some of the biggest private security firms operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Blackwater Worldwide, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, will be meeting the deputy secretaries of defense and state, Gordon England and John Negroponte, to discuss coordination and oversight issues, officials said.


Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this story.