[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 51 (Monday, December 23, 2002)]
[Page 2179]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13281--Half-Day Closing of Executive Departments and 
Agencies of the Federal Government on Tuesday, December 24, 2002

December 19, 2002

    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 
for the last half of the scheduled workday on Tuesday, December 24, 
2002, 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 for the full scheduled workday on December 24, 2002, for 
reasons of national security or defense or other public reasons.
    Sec. 3. Tuesday, December 24, 2002, 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 pay and leave of employees of the United States.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 December 19, 2002.

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:04 a.m., December 
20, 2002]

Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on 
December 23.