A common feature of environmental legislation is legislative authorization to act on the basis of anticipated harm, making scientific uncertainty an unavoidable aspect of regulatory science.
Congress passed legislation in 1890 allowing the Mint to alter designs that had been in use for 25 years without the need for legislative authorization.
Others are calling the proposed legislation the Authorization for Use of Financial Force, after the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the infamous bill that gave the Bush administration the green light to invade Iraq.
Throughout his tenure, despite minorities or small majorities in the Senate, Mr. Bush successfully pushed through highly controversial legislation, including authorization of the war in Iraq, No Child Left Behind, bank bailouts and Medicare drug coverage.
American congressional aides familiar with the legislation said the authorization goes into effect immediately.
The Giuliani administration was using authorization legislation, passed by the Council in 1993, to begin new negotiations with Time Warner and Cablevision.
Congress also adopted a long list of other bills, including Coast Guard authorization legislation that sets new fishing boat safety standards and tightens oil spill protection for Puget Sound, in Washington State, and other coastal waters.
Justice Ceresia wrote that the City Charter provides "a fairly comprehensive and detailed process for the approval of franchises" and does not "provide for formal participation by the City Council" other than passing authorization legislation that allows the administration to begin negotiations.
But Justice Ceresia ruled that once the authorization legislation was approved, the power over such deals rested with the head of the agency responsible for cable companies: Allan H. Dobrin, the city's information technology and telecommunications commissioner.
"Obama will vote against a piece of defense authorization legislation if it does not have a timeline, and McCain will vote against it if it does, and both of them know it's going to go through" in the end, said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an independent veterans group.
