Loading current_user and current_timestamp using COPY

I'm trying to load the current_user and current timestamp (as an audit)
in a set of data using the COPY FROM... statement.
I cannot get the session_user, current_user or user to give me anything
but the text itself...I even tried the obsolete getpgusername() and
thats exactly what it entered!

To get the current_timestamp, I had to use the now() function.

The declaration for the fields is:
.
.
updateUserId    text      DEFAULT current_user,
updateTimestamp timestamp DEFAULT current_timestamp,
.
Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance,
--
Herb Blacker
Database Administrator
ReCare, Inc.