For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 19, 2004
Presidential Letter
Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d),
provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless,
prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President
publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a
notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the
anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent the
enclosed notice, stating that the emergency declared with respect to
significant narcotics traffickers centered in Colombia is to continue
in effect beyond October 21, 2004, to the Federal Register for
publication. The most recent notice continuing this emergency was
published in the Federal Register on October 20, 2003 (68 Fed. Reg.
60023).
The circumstances that led to the declaration on October 21, 1995,
of a national emergency have not been resolved. The actions of
significant narcotics traffickers centered in Colombia continue to pose
an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign
policy, and economy of the United States and to cause extreme violence,
corruption, and harm in the United States and abroad. For these
reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to maintain economic
pressure on significant narcotics traffickers centered in Colombia by
blocking their property or interests in property that are in the United
States or within the possession or control of United States persons and
by depriving them of access to U.S. commercial and financial markets.
Sincerely,
GEORGE W. BUSH
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