[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 27 (Monday, July 11, 1994)]
[Page 1422]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing Transportation Legislation

July 5, 1994

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 1758, an act to revise, codify, 
and enact certain general and permanent laws related to transportation.
    Section 31134 directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish 
the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Regulatory Review Panel. The 
legislation grants panelists a position within the Federal Government 
that is endowed with tenure and continuing duties as well as significant 
authority, including the authority to compel the Secretary of 
Transportation to conduct a regulatory proceeding and to prescribe final 
regulations. For this reason, panelists are officers of the United 
States. Fourteen of the fifteen members of the panel are to be appointed 
from lists submitted by two committees of the Congress. The Constitution 
prohibits the Congress from sharing in the power to appoint officers of 
the United States other than through the Senate's confirmation role. As 
such, no statute may require an appointment to be made from a list 
submitted by a Member, committee, or other agent of the Congress. I 
therefore do not interpret section 31134(c)(2) as binding and direct the 
Secretary of Transportation to regard any lists submitted pursuant to 
section 31134(c)(2) as advisory.
    I also note that section 42104(c) purports to enact a legislative 
veto with respect to specific regulations issued by the Secretary of 
Labor pertaining to air carrier employees. The Supreme Court has ruled 
definitively that legislative vetoes are unconstitutional. Under the 
Court's precedents, the legislative veto provision contained in section 
42104(c) is severable from H.R. 1758. I therefore instruct the Secretary 
of Labor to disregard section 42104(c).
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
July 5, 1994.

Note: H.R. 1758, approved July 5, was assigned Public Law No. 103-272.