[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 8 (Monday, February 24, 2003)]
[Pages 225-227]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003

February 20, 2003

    Today I have signed into law H.J. Res. 2, the ``Consolidated 
Appropriations Resolution, 2003,'' which contains the remaining 11 
annual appropriations acts for fiscal year 2003. The funds appropriated 
by this bill will provide valuable resources for priorities such as 
homeland security, military operations, and education.
    I am very concerned that the Congress failed to provide over $1 
billion in funds that my Administration requested for State and local 
law enforcement and emergency personnel, and that much of the funding 
that the Congress did provide is heavily earmarked for lower-priority 
programs that are not best designed to protect Americans against 
terrorism. As a result, the shortfall for homeland security First 
Responder programs is more than $2.2 billion. Funds that should have 
been made available to the Department of Homeland Security are being 
diverted to programs unrelated to higher-priority terrorism preparedness 
and prevention efforts. My Administration will use all the

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tools at its disposal to ensure that as much of this funding as possible 
is directed toward terrorism preparedness and prevention.
    Further, although the funding level in the bill is largely 
consistent with the agreed upon top line level that I urged the Congress 
to adopt, the bill is not fully consistent with the agreed upon non-
defense discretionary funding levels due to the expanded use of 
budgetary mechanisms, such as advance appropriations. This bill includes 
an increase in advance appropriations of $2.2 billion, which should not 
be used to evade top line agreements on total discretionary funding.
    Therefore, the FY 2004 congressional budget allocations should be 
reduced accordingly and the device should not be repeated in FY 2005. 
Finally, the bill includes $3.3 billion for unrequested drought aid and 
other assistance that is only partially offset by spending reductions in 
the recently enacted Farm Bill.
    In addition, a number of provisions of H.J. Res. 2 are inconsistent 
with the constitutional authority of the President to conduct foreign 
affairs, command the Armed Forces, supervise the unitary executive 
branch, protect sensitive information, and make recommendations to the 
Congress. Other provisions unconstitutionally condition execution of the 
laws by the executive branch upon approval by congressional committees.
    Thus, the executive branch shall construe as advisory the provisions 
of the bill that purport to: direct or burden the Executive's conduct of 
international negotiations, such as sections 514, 556, 576, and 577 in 
the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act; limit the President's 
authority as Commander in Chief, such as language under the heading 
``Andean Counterdrug Initiative'' in the Foreign Operations 
Appropriations Act and section 609 of the Commerce Appropriations Act; 
or limit the President's authority to supervise the unitary executive 
branch, such as section 718 of the Agriculture Appropriations Act and 
the provisions relating to Office of Management and Budget review of 
executive branch orders, activities, regulations, transcripts and 
testimony in the Treasury Appropriations Act.
    In addition, the executive branch shall construe provisions that 
mandate, regulate, or prohibit submission of information to the Congress 
or the public, such as sections 561(a), 568(a), and 574(d) of the 
Foreign Operations Appropriations Act and sections 620 and 622 of the 
Treasury Appropriations Act, 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. 
Also, the executive branch shall construe provisions that mandate or 
prohibit submission of recommendations to the Congress, such as section 
723 of the Agriculture Appropriations Act and the provisions purporting 
to require submission of a request for a supplemental appropriation in 
the Interior Appropriations Act, in a manner consistent with the 
President's constitutional authority to submit for congressional 
consideration such measures as the President judges necessary and 
expedient.
    Also, the executive branch shall construe as advisory, or as calling 
solely for notification, the provisions of this bill that purport to 
require congressional committee approval for the execution of a law. Any 
other construction would be inconsistent with the principles enunciated 
by the United States Supreme Court in INS v. Chadha. Such provisions 
include: provisions relating to the ``Working Capital Fund,'' Food and 
Drug Administration fund transfers, and sections 704 and 719 relating to 
fund transfers in the Agriculture Appropriations Act; the provision 
relating to an expenditure plan for the entry-exit system in the 
Commerce Appropriations Act; and the provisions on transfer of United 
States Customs Service aircraft, automated commercial environment, 
business systems modernization, funds transfers within and among 
Treasury entities, Secret Service protective mission travel, museum 
construction, high-intensity drug trafficking area and other funding 
levels, building prospectus funding levels, use of the Federal building 
fund for emergency repairs and transfers with the fund, unobligated 
balances for salaries and expenses, office improvements, and law 
enforcement training facilities in the Treasury Appropriations Act.

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    Furthermore, the duty of the President under section 586 of the 
Foreign Operations Appropriations Act to issue and provide copies of an 
order relating to consideration of the release of information is 
assigned to the Attorney General, who shall ensure that the section is 
implemented in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional 
authority to withhold information, the disclosure of which could impair 
foreign relations, national security, the deliberative processes of the 
Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties.
    Finally, to ensure proper respect for the distinct powers of the 
executive and legislative branches and to ensure effective coordination 
between them in emergencies, the Attorney General shall serve as the 
single officer within the executive branch authorized to receive 
requests from the Chief of the Capitol Police and to approve action by 
the executive branch in the implementation of section 1017 of the 
legislative branch Appropriations Act.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 February 20, 2003.

Note: H.J. Res. 2, approved February 20, was assigned Public Law No. 
108-7.