    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [November 30, 2005]
    [Pages 1795-1796]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban
    Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent
    Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006
    November 30, 2005

        Today, I have signed into law H.R. 3058, the ``Transportation,
    Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District
    of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006.'' This
    Act appropriates funds for fiscal year 2006 to these departments and
    agencies, and for other purposes.
        The executive branch shall construe as calling solely for
    notification those provisions of the Act that are inconsistent with the
    requirements of bicameral passage and presentment set forth in the
    Constitution, as construed by the Supreme Court of the United States in
    1983 in INS v. Chadha. Such provisions include: sections 183, 201, 205,
    211, 212, 217, 218, 603, 608, 710, 711, 720, 838, and 841, and
    provisions under the headings ``Department of Transportation, Office of
    the Secretary, Salaries and Expenses,'' ``Department of Transportation,
    Office of the Secretary, Working Capital Fund,'' ``Federal Transit
    Administration, Administrative Expenses,'' ``Department of the Treasury,
    Departmental Offices, Salaries and Expenses,'' ``Internal Revenue
    Service, Business Systems Modernization,'' ``High Intensity Drug
    Trafficking Area Program,'' ``General Services Administration, Federal
    Buildings Fund,'' and ``National Archive and Records Administration,
    Electronic Records Archives.''
        The executive branch shall construe the provisions of the Act in a
    manner consistent with the President's authority to supervise the
    unitary executive branch and take care that the laws be faithfully
    executed, including the authority to direct which officers in the
    executive branch shall assist the President in faithfully executing the
    law. Specific provisions that raise this concern include language under
    the heading ``Office of Management and Budget, Salaries and Expenses''
    relating to the review of executive branch orders, activities,
    regulations, transcripts, and testimony, and relating to the review of
    certain matters in reports to be submitted to the Congress through the
    Secretary of the Army.
        The executive branch shall construe provisions in the Act that
    purport to mandate or regulate submission of information to the
    Congress, other entities outside the executive branch, or the public 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. Such provisions
    include sections 120, 182, 818, 820, and language under the heading
    ``Operating Subsidy Grants to the National Passenger Railroad
    Corporation.''
        Certain provisions in the Act purport to allocate funds for
    specified purposes as set forth in the joint explanatory statement of
    managers that accompanied the Act; to

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    make changes in statements of managers that accompanied various
    appropriations bills reported from conferences in the past; or to direct
    compliance with a committee report. The executive branch shall construe
    these provisions in a manner consistent with the bicameral passage and
    presentment requirements of the Constitution for the making of a law.
    Such provisions include section 710 and language under the headings
    ``Community Planning and Development, Community Development Fund,''
    ``Department of Housing and Urban Development, Management and
    Administration, Salaries and Expenses,'' and ``Office of Management and
    Budget, Salaries and Expenses.''
        The executive branch shall construe provisions that purport to
    require or regulate the submission of legislative proposals to the
    Congress by executive branch officials consistently with the President's
    constitutional authority to recommend to the Congress such measures as
    he judges necessary and expedient and authority to supervise the unitary
    executive branch. Such provisions include sections 182, 208, 219, 315,
    and 818.
        Section 809 seeks to prohibit the expenditure of funds for the
    salaries of ``any person for the filling of any position for which he or
    she has been nominated after the Senate has voted not to approve the
    nomination of said person.'' The executive branch shall construe this
    provision in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional
    authority to make recess appointments.
        The executive branch shall construe section 836, 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.
        Certain provisions of the Act relate to race, ethnicity, or gender.
    The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner
    consistent with the requirement that the Federal Government afford equal
    protection of the laws under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth
    Amendment to the Constitution.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     November 30, 2005.

    Note: H.R. 3058, approved November 30, was assigned Public Law No. 109-
    115. An original was not available for verification of the content of
    this statement.