For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 28, 2001
Executive Order on Succession at the Department of Health and Human Services
Executive Order Providing An Order of Succession Within the Department of Health and Human Services
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Vacancies
Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., it is hereby ordered that:
Section 1. Subject to the provisions of section 3 of
this order, the officers named in section 2, in the order listed, shall
act as and perform the functions and duties of the Office of the
Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) during any period
when both the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human
Services (Deputy Secretary) have died, resigned, or become otherwise
unable to perform the functions and duties of the office of Secretary.
Sec. 2. Order of Succession.
(a) The Assistant Secretaries of Health and Human
Services appointed
by the President and confirmed by the Senate, in the order in which
they shall have taken the oath of office as such;
(b) The General Counsel of the Department of Health and
Human
Services; and
(c) Other officers within the Department of Health and
Human Services
who have been appointed by the President by and with the consent of
the Senate, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of
office as such.
Sec. 3. Exceptions.
(a) No individual who is serving in an office listed in
section
2(a)-(c) of this order in an acting capacity shall act as
Secretary pursuant to this order.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this order, the
President
retains discretion, to the extent permitted by the Federal
Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., to depart
from this order in designating an acting Secretary.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 28, 2001.
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