For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 2, 2004
Statement on H.R. 4322
Today I have signed into law H.R. 4322, "An Act to provide for the
transfer of the Nebraska Avenue Naval Complex in the District of
Columbia to facilitate the establishment of the headquarters for the
Department of Homeland Security, to provide for the acquisition by the
Department of the Navy of suitable replacement facilities, and for
other purposes." This legislation will allow the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) to consolidate headquarters staff at the
Complex for the fore-seeable future.
The executive branch shall construe section 1(g)(3) of the Act,
which purports to make consultation with specified Members of Congress
a precondition to execution of the law, as calling for, but not
mandating, such consultation. Construing the provision as a mandate to
consult would be inconsistent with constitutional provisions concerning
the separate powers of the Congress to legislate and the President to
execute the laws.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
July 2, 2004.
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