For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 23, 2004
Statement on H.R. 2673
Statement by the President
Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2673, the "Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2004" (CAA). The CAA consolidates into a single
appropriations Act several appropriations bills that the Congress
normally passes each year as separate bills to fund the operations of
the Federal Government.
Many provisions of the CAA are inconsistent with the constitutional
authority of the President to conduct foreign affairs, command the
Armed Forces, protect sensitive information, supervise the unitary
executive branch, make appointments, and make recommendations to the
Congress. Many other provisions unconstitutionally condition execution
of the laws by the executive branch upon approval by congressional
committees.
The executive branch shall construe as advisory the provisions of
the Act that purport to: (1) direct or burden the Executives conduct
of foreign relations, including sections 514, 531, 548, 557, 570, 571,
589, 610, and 618(b) of, and language relating to an agreement under
the heading "Other Bilateral Economic Assistance, Economic Support
Fund" in, the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act; and sections 404,
612, and 635 of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act and
language in that Act relating to World Trade Organization negotiations
and United Nations Security Council voting; (2) limit the Presidents
authority as Commander in Chief, such as language under the heading
"Andean Counterdrug Initiative" in the Foreign Operations
Appropriations Act and section 610 of the Commerce, Justice, State
Appropriations Act; (3) limit the Presidents authority to supervise the
unitary executive branch, such as section 610(3) of the Commerce,
Justice, State Appropriations Act, and sections 618 and 628 of the
Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act and the language in that
Act relating to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review of
executive branch orders, activities, regulations, transcripts, and
testimony; or (4) restrict the Presidents constitutional authority to
make appointments, such as section 604(c)(3)(B) of the Foreign
Operations Appropriations Act and subsections 112(a) and (d) of the
Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act.
In addition, the executive branch shall construe provisions in the
CAA that mandate submission of information to the Congress, other
entities outside the executive branch, or the public, such as section
637(e)(2) of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act, in a
manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to
withhold information that could impair foreign relations, national
security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the
performance of the Executive's constitutional duties. Also, to the
extent that provisions of the CAA, such as section 404 of the
Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act and section 721 of the
Agriculture Appropria-tions Act, purport to require or regulate
submission by executive branch officials of legislative recommendations
to the Congress, the executive branch shall construe such provisions in
a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to
submit for congressional consideration such measures as the President
judges necessary and expedient. In particular, the executive branch
shall construe sections 121 and 223 of the Veterans Affairs, Housing
and Urban Development Appropriations Act in a manner consistent with
the President's authority under the Recommendations Clause to submit
budget requests to the Congress in any form he determines appropriate.
The executive branch shall construe the phrase "developed by the
Kimberley Process" in section 584 of the Foreign Operations
Appropriations Act as requiring the enforcement only of those standards
that are in existence as of enactment of the CAA, for the reasons I
stated upon signing the Clean Diamond Trade Act on April 25, 2003.
The executive branch shall construe as calling solely for
notification the provisions of the CAA that are inconsistent with the
requirements of bicameral passage and presentment set forth by the
Constitution, as construed by the Supreme Court of the United States in
1983 in INS v. Chadha. Such provisions include: sections 704, 718,
732, and 786 in the Agriculture Appropriations Act and language
relating to Food and Drug Administration fund transfers in that Act;
section 436(5) of the District of Columbia Appropriations Act; section
207 of the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Act and
language under the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Fund heading in
that Act; sections 201, 211, 212, 217, 403, 526, 533, 614, 623, and 643
in the Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act and language in that
Act under the headings "Department of Transportation, Office of the
Secretary, Salaries and Expenses," "Department of Transportation,
Working Capital Fund," "Federal Transit Administration, Administrative
Expenses," "Treasury Building Annex Repair and Restoration," "Internal
Revenue Service, Business Systems Modernization," "Federal Drug Control
Programs, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program," "General
Services Administration, Real Property Activities, Federal Buildings
Fund, Limitations on Availability of Revenue," and "Human Capital
Performance Fund;" and section 111 of the Veterans Affairs, Housing and
Urban Development Appropriations Act and language in that Act relating
to additional amounts for Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced
Services Activities.
Section 409 of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act
purports to compel the Secretary of State to furnish all Department of
State cables, on any topic and of whatever classification, to any
member of the House or Senate appropria-tions committees who requests
them. The executive branch shall construe this provision consistent
with the Presidents constitutional authority to withhold information
the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national
security, the deliberative process of the Executive, or the performance
of the Executives constitutional duties.
The executive branch shall construe section 646 of the
Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act, relating to assign-ment of
executive branch employees to perform functions in the legislative
branch, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional
authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in
Chief, and recognizing that the President cannot be compelled to give
up the authority of his office as a condition of receiving the funds
necessary to carrying out the duties of his office.
Several provisions of the CAA relate to race, ethnicity, or
gender. The executive branch shall construe such provisions 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.
Sections 153 and 154 of Division H of the CAA purport to establish
interparliamentary groups of U.S. Senators to meet with members of the
national legislatures of certain foreign countries for a discussion of
common problems in the interest of relations between the United States
and those countries. Consistent with the President's constitutional
authority to conduct the Nation's foreign relations and as Commander in
Chief, the executive branch shall construe sections 153 and 154 as
authorizing neither representation of the United States nor disclosure
of national security information protected by law or executive order.
The executive branch shall construe section 161 of Division H of
the CAA as applicable only with respect to statutory functions assigned
to the Director of OMB and not to the Director's role of assisting the
President in the President's exercise of his constitutional powers of
obtaining the opinions of the heads of departments, recommending for
the consideration of the Congress such measures as the President judges
necessary and expedient, and supervising the unitary executive branch.
The executive branch shall not construe section 161 to affect the power
of the President to modify or amend the executive order to which the
provision refers.
Several provisions in the CAA make specified changes in statements
of managers of the House-Senate conference committees that accompanied
various bills reported from conference that ultimately became laws. As
with other committee materials, statements of managers accompanying a
conference report do not have the force of law. Accordingly, although
changes to these statements are directed by the terms of the statute,
the statements themselves are not legally binding.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 23, 2004.
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