[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.