    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [October 18, 2005]
    [Pages 1563-1564]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations
    Act, 2006
    October 18, 2005

        Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2360, the ``Department of
    Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2006.'' The Act provides funds to
    protect the United States against terrorism, assist those adversely
    affected by natural disasters such as hurricanes, and carry out other
    departmental functions such as securing our Nation's borders and
    enforcing our immigration laws.
        The executive branch shall construe as calling solely for
    notification the provisions of the Act that purport to require
    congressional committee approval for the execution of a law. Any other
    construction would be inconsistent with the principles enunciated by the
    Supreme Court of the United States in INS v. Chadha. These provisions
    include: ``United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator
    Technology;'' ``Automation Modernization, Customs and Border
    Protection;'' ``Air and Marine Interdiction, Operations, Maintenance,
    and Procurement, Customs and Border Protection;'' ``Automation
    Modernization, Immigration and Customs Enforcement;'' ``Salaries and
    Expenses, United States Secret Service;'' ``Research, Development,
    Acquisition, and Operations, Science and Technology for the Domestic
    Nuclear Detection Office;'' and sections 504, 505, 509, 511, 526, and
    538.
        Under the heading ``Customs and Border Protection,'' the Act
    purports to require the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to
    relocate its tactical checkpoints in the Tucson, Arizona, sector at
    least once every 7 days. Decisions on deployment and redeployment of law
    enforcement officers in the execution of the laws are a part of the
    executive power vested in the President by Article II of the
    Constitution. Accordingly, the executive branch shall construe the
    relocation provision as advisory rather than mandatory.
        Section 516 of the Act purports to direct the conduct of security
    and suitability investigations. To the extent that section 516 relates
    to access to classified national security information, the executive
    branch shall construe this provision in a manner consistent with the
    President's exclusive constitutional authority, as head of the unitary
    executive branch and as Commander in Chief, to classify and control
    access to national security information and to determine whether an
    individual is suitable to occupy a position in the executive branch with
    access to such information.
        To the extent that section 518 of the Act purports to allow an agent
    of the legislative branch to prevent implementation of the law unless
    the legislative agent reports to the Congress that the executive branch
    has met certain conditions, the executive branch shall construe such
    section as advisory, in accordance with the constitutional principles
    enumerated in the Chadha decision.
        As is consistent with the text of the Act, the executive branch
    shall construe section 521 as relating to the integrity and supervision
    of the United States Secret Service only within the Department of
    Homeland Security. The executive branch therefore shall construe section
    521 to neither affect the functions and supervision of personnel of the
    Secret Service assigned or detailed to duty outside the Department of
    Homeland Security, nor limit participation by the Secret Service in
    cooperative command and other arrangements with other governmental
    entities for the conduct of particular operations.
        Section 527 refers to joint explanatory statements of managers
    accompanying conference reports on specified acts. Such statements do
    not satisfy the constitutional requirements of bicameral approval and

    [[Page 1564]]

    presentment to the President needed to give them the force of law.
        The executive branch shall construe section 529 of the Act, relating
    to privacy officer reports, in a manner consistent with the President's
    constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     October 18, 2005.

    Note: H.R. 2360, approved October 18, was assigned Public Law No. 109-
    90.