Cheney taking control during Bush colonoscopy

WASHINGTON – President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy today, and Vice President Dick Cheney will hold the powers of the presidency during the roughly 2 1/2 hours Bush is under the effects of anesthesia, the White House said Friday.

It will be the second time Bush has signed over to Cheney the responsibilities of the presidency; the previous time was five years ago for the same procedure.

Press secretary Tony Snow said the vice president would be at his private home in St. Michaels, Md., on the Chesapeake Bay. Snow declined to say at what hour the transfer would take place.

The White House spokesman said the examination would be conducted at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., as it was in 2002.

Snow, who is undergoing treatment for colon cancer, said two polyps were removed when Bush underwent the procedure in 1998 and 1999 and it was recommended that he have a colonoscopy every five years.

Under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, enacted in 1967, the president can hand over the responsibilities of his office to the vice president, who serves as acting president. The president must notify House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the president pro tem of the Senate, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., in writing when he is transferring power and resuming it.

The amendment had been invoked only once before Bush came to office, when President Reagan underwent colon surgery in 1985. It was not invoked when Reagan was shot in 1981 and underwent more than three hours of surgery.