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Saturday, July 21, 2007

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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.

All the polyps were less than a centimeter and were sent for microscopic examination to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Results were expected within 72 hours.

The colonoscopy lasted 31 minutes; the sedated president was asleep the whole time. 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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The transfer of power took place with letters Bush sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., president pro tempore of the Senate. Bush reclaimed the powers with follow-up letters once the colonoscopy had ended.

The president spoke by phone before and after the procedure with Laura Bush, who was in Midland, Texas, celebrating her mother's birthday.

After the colon check, Bush had breakfast with chief of staff Joshua Bolten, White House counsel Fred Fielding and national security adviser Stephen Hadley.

Later, Bush played with his dogs, Barney and Miss Beazley, and planned a bike ride in the afternoon at the presidential compound in the Catoctin Mountains.

"The president was in good humor and will resume his normal activities at Camp David," Stanzel said.

Dr. Richard Tubb, the president's doctor, supervised Bush's colonoscopy, which was performed by a team from the Bethesda medical center.

Two polyps were discovered during similar examinations in 1998 and 1999, while Bush was governor of Texas. That made the 61-year-old president a prime candidate for regular examinations.

A screening on July 29, 2002, found no polyps in Bush's colon. On that day, he relinquished powers to Cheney for more than two hours.

In July 1985, President Reagan had surgery and turned over power to his vice president, George H.W. Bush.

For the general population, a colonoscopy to screen for colon cancer is recommended every 10 years. But for people at higher risk, or if a colonoscopy detects precancerous polyps, follow-up colonoscopies often are scheduled in three- to five-year intervals.

According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 112,340 new cases of colon cancer and 41,420 new cases of rectal cancer will be reported this year. About 52,000 people in the United States will die this year of colon and rectal cancer.

© 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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