[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 46 (Monday, November 21, 2005)]
[Pages 1701-1702]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug 
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006

November 10, 2005

    Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2744, the ``Agriculture, Rural 
Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 2006.'' The Act funds important agriculture, food 
safety, natural resource and other programs of the Federal Government.
    The executive branch shall construe certain provisions of the Act 
that purport to require congressional committee approval for the 
execution of a law as calling solely for notification, as any other 
construction would be inconsistent with the principles enunciated by the 
Supreme Court of the United States in INS v. Chadha. These provisions 
include sections 705, 716, and 732, and language under the heading 
``Food and Drug Administration, Salaries and Expenses.''
    The executive branch shall construe section 715, which purports to 
regulate the transmission of information by employees at the Department 
of Agriculture, in a manner consistent with the President's 
constitutional authority to faithfully execute the laws and to supervise 
the unitary executive branch.
    The executive branch shall construe section 719, which purports to 
regulate the

[[Page 1702]]

transmittal of legislative recommendations by executive branch officials 
to the Congress, in a manner consistent with the President's 
constitutional authority to recommend such measures to the Congress as 
he deems necessary and expedient.
    Several provisions of the bill relate to race or ethnicity. The 
executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent 
with the requirement that the Federal Government afford equal protection 
of the laws under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the 
Constitution.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 November 10, 2005.

Note: H.R. 2744, approved November 10, was assigned Public Law No. 109-
97. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.