CAMP DAVID, Md. - President Bush transferred the powers of his office to Vice President Dick Cheney for more than two hours Saturday while under sedation for a colon cancer screening.
Doctors removed five small polyps during the procedure at Camp David. “None appeared worrisome,” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said. Polyps are precancerous growths in the colon.
The colonoscopy last 31 minutes. The transfer of power from Bush to Cheney covered two hours and five minutes.
The president invoked Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution “out of an abundance of caution.” Stanzel said. The amendment, approved in 1967, four years after President Kennedy was assassinated, had been used only twice before.
At 7:16 a.m. EDT, Bush invoked the disability clause and transferred his authority to Cheney. The vice president was at his home on the Chesapeake Bay in St. Michaels, Md., about 30 miles east of Washington.
Bush reclaimed his presidential powers and duties at 9:21 a.m. EDT.
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