[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[October 6, 1992]
[Pages 1765-1766]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1993
October 6, 1992

    I have signed into law H.R. 5427, the ``Legislative Branch 
Appropriations Act, 1993.'' While I regret that the Congress has 
rejected my proposal for a 33 percent reduction in congressional staffs, 
I need not repeat here the compelling reasons for such a reduction. 
However, I am compelled to comment upon two troublesome features of this 
bill.
    First, I object to section 315, which establishes a ``Task Force on 
Senate Coverage'' for the purpose of ``studying'' whether vari-

[[Page 1766]]

ous statutes that now apply to the private sector and/or the executive 
branch should also apply to the United States Senate.
    This is not the sort of complex, difficult question that requires 
deliberation by a blue-ribbon panel. The Congress need not look beyond 
James Madison's warning in Federalist Paper No. 57 that ``[i]f [the 
American] spirit shall ever be so far debased as to tolerate a law not 
obligatory on the Legislature as well as on the people, the people will 
be prepared to tolerate anything but liberty.'' Rather than ``study'' 
the issue, the Congress should quickly eliminate this unseemly practice 
by passing the Accountability in Government Act that I proposed in 
April.
    I would also note the limitations placed on the Task Force's 
authority to take even the small step of examining this issue. Although 
the bill mentions several statutes by name, it ignores the Civil Rights 
Act of 1964, the Rehabilitation Act, and other civil rights laws. The 
current ``coverage'' of the Congress by these laws is a sham, since it 
denies congressional employees the same rights to trial before a judge 
or jury enjoyed by other Americans. The bill also excludes consideration 
of whether the Congress should be covered by the Independent Counsel 
provision of the Ethics in Government Act, if that statute is 
reauthorized. And even as to the small number of laws remaining for 
consideration by the Task Force, the Task Force's mandate reaches only 
the Senate, not the House.
    Second, provisions establishing the Commission on the Bicentennial 
of the United States Capitol present constitutional concerns. Even 
though the voting members of the Commission will all be Members of 
Congress, section 324(a) of the bill, if broadly construed, could be 
interpreted to allow the exercise of significant governmental authority 
by the Commission. So construed, this provision would be 
unconstitutional under the Appointments Clause of Article II, section 2, 
and the Incompatibility Clause of Article I, section 6. To avoid this 
constitutional infirmity, I will interpret section 324(a) of the bill as 
authorizing the Commission to perform only ceremonial and advisory 
functions within the legislative branch.

                                                             George Bush

The White House,
October 6, 1992.

                    Note: H.R. 5427, approved October 6, was assigned 
                        Public Law No. 102-392.