Obama issues signing statement on spending bill

True to his word, President Obama this afternoon issued a signing statement raising objections to some provisions in the $410 billion spending bill that he says run afoul of the constitution.

In a two-page statement (read it here), Obama says provisions on negotiations with foreign governments and international organizations would "unduly interfere" with his constitutional authority in foreign affairs. He also questioned a provision on funding United Nations peacekeeping operations, as well as the funding of congressional committees.

Obama announced Monday that while he would not use signing statements to disregard provisions of laws for policy reasons -- as his predecessor was criticized for doing, especially on national security issues -- he would use them in a limited way on constitutional grounds.

Obama said Monday that signing statements -- official documents in which the president lays out his legal interpretation of the bill for the federal bureaucracy to follow -- have been abused.

President George W. Bush has been criticized for using the statements to expand his power as commander in chief.