    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [January 23, 2004]
    [Pages 126-129]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004
    January 23, 2004

        Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2673, the ``Consolidated
    Appropriations Act, 2004'' (CAA). The CAA consolidates into a single
    appropriations Act several appropriations bills that the Congress
    normally passes each year as separate bills to

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    fund the operations of the Federal Government.
        Many provisions of the CAA are inconsistent with the constitutional
    authority of the President to conduct foreign affairs, command the Armed
    Forces, protect sensitive information, supervise the unitary executive
    branch, make appointments, and make recommendations to the Congress.
    Many other provisions unconstitutionally condition execution of the laws
    by the executive branch upon approval by congressional committees.
        The executive branch shall construe as advisory the provisions of
    the Act that purport to: (1) direct or burden the Executive's conduct of
    foreign relations, including sections 514, 531, 548, 557, 570, 571, 589,
    610, and 618(b) of, and language relating to an agreement under the
    heading ``Other Bilateral Economic Assistance, Economic Support Fund''
    in, the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act; and sections 404, 612,
    and 635 of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act and language
    in that Act relating to World Trade Organization negotiations and United
    Nations Security Council voting; (2) limit the President's authority as
    Commander in Chief, such as language under the heading ``Andean
    Counterdrug Initiative'' in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act
    and section 610 of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act; (3)
    limit the President's authority to supervise the unitary executive
    branch, such as section 610(3) of the Commerce, Justice, State
    Appropriations Act, and sections 618 and 628 of the Transportation,
    Treasury Appropriations Act and the language in that Act relating to
    Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review of executive branch orders,
    activities, regulations, transcripts, and testimony; or (4) restrict the
    President's constitutional authority to make appointments, such as
    section 604(c)(3)(B) of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act and
    subsections 112(a) and (d) of the Commerce, Justice, State
    Appropriations Act.
        In addition, the executive branch shall construe provisions in the
    CAA that mandate submission of information to the Congress, other
    entities outside the executive branch, or the public, such as section
    637(e)(2) of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act, in a
    manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to
    withhold information that could impair foreign relations, national
    security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the
    performance of the Executive's constitutional duties. Also, to the
    extent that provisions of the CAA, such as section 404 of the
    Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act and section 721 of the
    Agriculture Appropriations Act, purport to require or regulate
    submission by executive branch officials of legislative recommendations
    to the Congress, the executive branch shall construe such provisions in
    a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to
    submit for congressional consideration such measures as the President
    judges necessary and expedient. In particular, the executive branch
    shall construe sections 121 and 223 of the Veterans Affairs, Housing and
    Urban Development Appropriations Act in a manner consistent with the
    President's authority under the Recommendations Clause to submit budget
    requests to the Congress in any form he determines appropriate.
        The executive branch shall construe the phrase ``developed by the
    Kimberley Process'' in section 584 of the Foreign Operations
    Appropriations Act as requiring the enforcement only of those standards
    that are in existence as of enactment of the CAA, for the reasons I
    stated upon signing the Clean Diamond Trade Act on April 25, 2003.
        The executive branch shall construe as calling solely for
    notification the provisions of the CAA that are inconsistent with the
    requirements of bicameral passage and presentment set forth by the
    Constitution, as construed by the Supreme Court of the United States in
    1983 in INS v. Chadha.

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    Such provisions include: sections 704, 718, 732, and 786 in the
    Agriculture Appropriations Act and language relating to Food and Drug
    Administration fund transfers in that Act; section 436(5) of the
    District of Columbia Appropriations Act; section 207 of the Labor,
    Health and Human Services Appropriations Act and language under the
    Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Fund heading in that Act; sections
    201, 211, 212, 217, 403, 526, 533, 614, 623, and 643 in the
    Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act and language in that Act
    under the headings ``Department of Transportation, Office of the
    Secretary, Salaries and Expenses,'' ``Department of Transportation,
    Working Capital Fund,'' ``Federal Transit Administration, Administrative
    Expenses,'' ``Treasury Building Annex Repair and Restoration,''
    ``Internal Revenue Service, Business Systems Modernization,'' ``Federal
    Drug Control Programs, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program,''
    ``General Services Administration, Real Property Activities, Federal
    Buildings Fund, Limitations on Availability of Revenue,'' and ``Human
    Capital Performance Fund;'' and section 111 of the Veterans Affairs,
    Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act and language in that
    Act relating to additional amounts for Capital Asset Realignment for
    Enhanced Services Activities.
        Section 409 of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act
    purports to compel the Secretary of State to furnish all Department of
    State cables, on any topic and of whatever classification, to any member
    of the House or Senate appropriations committees who requests them. The
    executive branch shall construe this provision consistent with the
    President's constitutional authority to withhold information the
    disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security,
    the deliberative process of the Executive, or the performance of the
    Executive's constitutional duties.
        The executive branch shall construe section 646 of the
    Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act, relating to assignment of
    executive branch employees to perform functions in the legislative
    branch, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional
    authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in
    Chief, and recognizing that the President cannot be compelled to give up
    the authority of his office as a condition of receiving the funds
    necessary to carrying out the duties of his office.
        Several provisions of the CAA relate to race, ethnicity, or gender.
    The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner
    consistent with the requirement to afford equal protection of the laws
    under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
        Sections 153 and 154 of Division H of the CAA purport to establish
    interparliamentary groups of U.S. Senators to meet with members of the
    national legislatures of certain foreign countries for a discussion of
    common problems in the interest of relations between the United States
    and those countries. Consistent with the President's constitutional
    authority to conduct the Nation's foreign relations and as Commander in
    Chief, the executive branch shall construe sections 153 and 154 as
    authorizing neither representation of the United States nor disclosure
    of national security information protected by law or executive order.
        The executive branch shall construe section 161 of Division H of the
    CAA as applicable only with respect to statutory functions assigned to
    the Director of OMB and not to the Director's role of assisting the
    President in the President's exercise of his constitutional powers of
    obtaining the opinions of the heads of departments, recommending for the
    consideration of the Congress such measures as the President judges
    necessary and expedient, and supervising the unitary executive branch.
    The executive branch shall not construe section 161 to

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    affect the power of the President to modify or amend the executive order
    to which the provision refers.
        Several provisions in the CAA make specified changes in statements
    of managers of the House-Senate conference committees that accompanied
    various bills reported from conference that ultimately became laws. As
    with other committee materials, statements of managers accompanying a
    conference report do not have the force of law. Accordingly, although
    changes to these statements are directed by the terms of the statute,
    the statements themselves are not legally binding.

                                                              George W. Bush

    The White House,

    January 23, 2004.

    Note: H.R. 2673, approved January 23, was assigned Public Law No. 108-
    199. An original was not available for verification of the content of
    this statement.