By NNN-PTI
Washington : US President George W Bush Saturday transferred the powers of the presidency to Vice President Dick Cheney prior to be sedated for a routine medical procedure to detect colon cancer.
Bush signed a letter as per the requirements of the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution to the leaders of the House and Senate. Cheney is not in Washington DC but at his home in St Michaels, Maryland, about 30 miles from here.
The White House said the Vice President being away from the capital is not an issue in terms of functioning in the event of an emergency.
"The Vice President is now serving as acting President," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
The temporary transfer of power will end when the President sends a second letter to leaders of Congress telling them that he is assuming back his constitutional powers.
The relevant section of the 25th Amendment has rarely been used by Presidents — the first being in July 1995 when then President Ronald Reagan turned over powers to George Herbert Walker Bush and the other time was in June 2002 when the current President handed over powers to Cheney for some two hours during a scan for colon cancer.
The colonoscopy will be conducted at the Camp David presidential retreat.
Two benign polyps were discovered during previous colonoscopies in 1998 and 1999, when Bush was the Governor of Texas. That made the 61-year-old President a prime candidate for regular examinations.
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