[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 49 (Monday, December 10, 2001)]
[Pages 1758-1759]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13238--Closing of Federal Government Executive 
Departments and Agencies on Monday, December 24, 2001

December 5, 2001

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as 
follows:
    Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the 
Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty 
on Monday, December 24, 2001, the day before Christmas Day, except as 
provided in section 2 below.
    Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may 
determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, 
or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must 
report for duty on December 24, 2001, for reasons of national security 
or defense or other public reasons.
    Sec. 3. Monday, December 24, 2001, shall be considered as falling 
within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 
U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they 
relate to the

[[Page 1759]]

pay and leave of employees of the United States.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 December 5, 2001.

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:08 a.m., December 7, 
2001]

Note: This Executive order was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on December 6, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
December 10.