For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 5, 2004
Statement by the President on H.R. 254
Statement by the President
Today, I have signed into law H.R. 254, "To authorize the President
of the United States to agree to certain amendments to the Agreement
between the Government of the United States of America and the
Government of the United Mexican States concerning the establishment of
a Border Environment Cooperation Commission and a North American
Development Bank, and for other purposes." The Act is intended to
implement an agreement between the United States and Mexico to
accelerate the delivery of environmental infrastructure projects on the
border by improving the operations of the Border Environment
Cooperation Commission and the North American Development Bank.
Section 546 of Public Law 103-182, as added by section 1 of the
Act, purports to direct the President to instruct United States
representatives on the Board of Directors of the North American
Development Bank to take a particular position with respect to certain
grant proposals. Under the Constitution, the President alone is
charged with developing the position of the United States in
international fora. The executive branch will accordingly interpret
this provision as a nonbinding recommendation from the Congress.
Sections 2(5) and 2(6) of the Act purport to require the annual
report of the Secretary of the Treasury to include a description of
discussions between the United States and Mexican governments. In
order to avoid intrusion into the President's negotiating authority and
ability to maintain the confidentiality of diplomatic negotiations, the
executive branch will not interpret this provision to require the
disclosure of either the contents of diplomatic communications or
specific plans for particular negotiations in the future.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 5, 2004.
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