Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II) - Statement on Signing the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006

[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

[[Page 1796]]

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.