For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 5, 2004
President's Statement on Signing the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2005
Today I have signed into law H.R. 4613, the "Department of Defense
Appropriations Act, 2005." The bill provides funds to pursue the war
on terror, advance other United States interests around the globe, and
support our Armed Forces.
Sections 8007, 8011, and 8106 of the Act prohibit the use of funds
to initiate a special access program, a new overseas installation, or a
new start program, unless the congressional defense committees receive
advance notice. The Supreme Court of the United States has stated that
the President's authority to classify and control access to information
bearing on the national security flows from the Constitution and does
not depend upon a legislative grant of authority. Although the advance
notice contemplated by sections 8007, 8011, and 8106 can be provided in
most situations as a matter of comity, situations may arise, especially
in wartime, in which the President must act promptly under his
constitutional grants of executive power and authority as Commander in
Chief of the Armed Forces while protecting certain extraordinarily
sensitive national security information. The executive branch shall
construe sections 8007, 8011, and 8106 in a manner consistent with the
constitutional authority of the President.
Section 8064 of the Act provides that, notwithstanding any other
provision of law, no funds available to the Department of Defense for
FY 2005 may be used to transfer defense articles or services, other
than intelligence services, to another nation or an international
organization for international peacekeeping, peace enforcement, or
humanitarian assistance operations, until 15 days after the executive
branch notifies 6 committees of the Congress of the planned transfer.
To the extent that protection of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed for
international peacekeeping, peace enforcement, or humanitarian
assistance operations might require action of a kind covered by section
8064 sooner than 15 days after notification, the executive branch shall
construe section 8064 in a manner consistent with the President's
constitutional authority as Commander in Chief.
A proviso in the Act's appropriation for "Operation and
Maintenance, Defense-Wide" purports to prohibit planning for
consolidation of certain offices within the Department of Defense.
Also, sections 8010(b), 8036, 8041(b), 8110, and 8116 purport to
specify the content of a portion of a future budget request to the
Congress for the Department. The executive branch shall construe these
provisions relating to planning and making of budget recommendations in
a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to
require the opinions of the heads of departments and to recommend for
congressional consideration such measures as the President shall judge
necessary and expedient.
Section 8005 of the Act relating to requests to congressional
committees for reprogramming of funds shall be construed as calling
solely for notification, as any other construction would be
inconsistent with the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court of the
United States in INS v. Chadha.
A proviso within the appropriation for "Operation and Maintenance,
Air Force" earmarks funds for a grant to a college for the purpose of
funding minority aviation training, a proviso within the appropriation
for "Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide" earmarks funds for a
program for Asian American/Pacific Islander students, and sections 8014
and 8021 of the Act grant contracting-related exceptions or preferences
to Native Hawaiian organizations. The executive branch shall implement
the provisos and sections 8014 and 8021 in a manner consistent with the
requirement to afford equal protection of the laws under the Due
Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
The executive branch shall construe section 8101 of the Act, which
purports to prohibit alteration of command responsibility or permanent
assignment of forces until 270 days after submission of a plan for such
alteration to the congressional defense committees, as advisory, as any
other construction would be inconsistent with the constitutional grant
to the President of the authority of Commander in Chief. Also, the
executive branch shall construe section 8124, relating to integration
of foreign intelligence information, in a manner consistent with the
President's constitutional authority as Commander in Chief, including
for the conduct of intelligence operations, and to supervise the
unitary executive branch. Finally, the Executive Branch shall construe
section 12001, which purports to assign the Secretary of Defense the
duty to negotiate with a foreign country, in a manner consistent with
the President's constitu-tional authority to conduct the Nation's
foreign affairs, which includes the authority to determine who shall
negotiate for the United States under the President's direction with a
foreign country.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 5, 2004.
# # #
|