I'm Just a...Bill?

When is a law not a law? When it hasn't passed both houses of Congress. But apparently this basic civics lesson isn't understood by the current executive branch. Last month President Bush signed into law a $40 billion budget act that had only been passed by the Senate. The budget bill was controversial and through a clerical error, two seperate versions of the bill were sent to the House and Senate. The error resulted in a $2 billion difference between the two. The bill passed by a narrow margin and rather than rectify the differences and call another vote, the President signed the Senate version into law. Now a government watchdog is challenging the legality of the law. Public Citizen, an organization founded by Ralph Nader is suing to prevent adoption.