[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 48 (Monday, December 2, 2002)]
[Pages 2095-2096]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002

November 25, 2002

    Today I have signed into law S. 1214, the ``Maritime Transportation 
Security Act of 2002.'' This Act will strengthen security at our 
Nation's seaports by requiring comprehensive security plans for U.S. 
ports and mandating improved identification and screening of seaport 
personnel.
    Certain provisions of the Act, including sections 102, 103(b), 
110(c)(4), and 112(4), purport to require an executive branch official 
to submit recommendations to the Congress. The executive branch shall 
construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the President's 
constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch. 
Moreover, to the extent such provisions of the Act would require 
submission of legislative recommendations, they would impermissibly 
impinge upon the President's constitutional authority to submit only 
those legislative recommendations that he judges to be necessary and 
expedient. Accordingly, the executive branch shall construe such 
provisions as requiring submission of legislative recommendations only 
where the President judges them necessary and expedient.
    Section 102 of the Act adds a new section 70109 to title 46 of the 
United States Code. This provision purports to require one of my

[[Page 2096]]

subordinates to notify foreign officials of certain findings and 
recommend antiterrorism measures to them. The constitutional authority 
of the President over foreign affairs necessarily entails discretion 
over these matters, and so the executive branch shall interpret this 
provision as precatory.
    Section 102 of the Act also adds a new section 70112 to title 46. 
Section 70112(a)(1)(B) purports to authorize an advisory committee in 
the executive branch to make available to the Congress recommendations 
that the committee makes to the Secretary of the Department in which the 
Coast Guard is operating. The executive branch shall construe this 
provision in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional 
authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to protect the 
deliberative processes of the Executive.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 November 25, 2002.

Note: S. 1214, approved November 25, was assigned Public Law No. 107-
295.