    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [October 11, 2002]
    [Pages 1783-1784]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Vicksburg National Military Park Boundary
    Modification Act of 2002
    October 11, 2002

        I have today signed into law S. 1175, the ``Vicksburg National
    Military Park Boundary Modification Act of 2002.'' In 1863, union forces
    under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant and confederate
    forces under the command of Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton fought
    for control of Vicksburg, Mississippi, a strategic location on the lower
    Mississippi River. The Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to
    add the confederate commander's headquarters to the Park, which has
    included the union commander's headquarters for many decades. The Act
    will enable the Department of the Interior to preserve property for the
    education of Americans today, and in generations to come.
        The second sentence of section 3(b) of the Act reads: ``Upon the
    acquisition of the property referenced in this subsection, the Secretary
    add it to Vicksburg National Military Park and shall modify the
    boundaries of the park to reflect its inclusion.'' It is

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    plain in reading the sentence that a word is missing between the words
    ``Secretary'' and ``add.''
        In accordance with section 106 of title 1 of the United States Code,
    enrolled bill S. 1175 was presented to me bearing the signatures of the
    Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of
    the Senate, which attests that both Houses passed the bill. In
    accordance with the principles enunciated by the U.S. Supreme Court in
    Marshall Field & Co. v. Clark in 1892, I take the bill presented as
    being duly enrolled and shall not turn to the journals of either House,
    the reports of congressional committees, or other documents printed by
    the authority of Congress in an effort to determine whether an error in
    the enrollment of S. 1175 has occurred.
        Recognizing that the second half of the sentence in issue provides
    that the Secretary ``shall'' modify park boundaries to reflect inclusion
    of the property in the Park, the most reasonable construction of the
    first half of the sentence is that, after the Secretary of the Interior
    acquires the property, addition of the property to the Park by the
    Secretary is mandatory. Accordingly, the executive branch shall
    implement the second sentence of section 3(b) of the Act in the same way
    it would implement the Act if the word ``shall'' appeared in that
    sentence between the words ``Secretary'' and ``add.'' This construction
    is faithful to the legislative intent as evidenced by the content of the
    statute itself.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     October 11, 2002.

    Note: S. 1175, approved October 11, was assigned Public Law No. 107-238.
    An original was not available for verification of the content of this
    statement.