[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 40 (Monday, October 6, 2003)]
[Pages 1292-1293]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations 
Act, 2004

October 1, 2003

    Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2555, the ``Department of 
Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2004.'' This is the first regular 
appropriations act for the Department of Homeland Security.
    The executive branch shall construe as calling solely for 
notification the provisions of the Act 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 
Supreme Court of the United States in 1983 in INS v. Chadha. Such 
provisions

[[Page 1293]]

include the purported approval requirements in the appropriations for 
expenses for the development of the United States Visitor and Immigrant 
Status Indicator Technology project; customs and border protection 
automated systems; immigration and customs enforcement automated 
systems; operations, maintenance, and procurement of marine vessels, 
aircraft, and other related equipment of the air and marine program; 
expenses of the United States Secret Service; and also in sections 504, 
511, and 516. To the extent that section 519 of the Act purports to 
allow an agent of the legislative branch to prevent implementation of 
the law unless the legislative agent reports to the Congress that the 
executive branch has met certain conditions, the executive branch shall 
construe such section as advisory, in accordance with the Chadha 
principles.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 October 1, 2003.

Note: H.R. 2555, approved October 1, was assigned Public Law No. 108-90.