    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 24 (Monday, June 19, 2006)]
    [Pages 1159-1160]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on Signing the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for
    Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006

    June 15, 2006

        Today, I have signed into law H.R. 4939, the ``Emergency
    Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror,
    and Hurricane Recovery, 2006.'' The Act provides additional resources
    needed to fight the war on terror, help citizens of the Gulf States
    recover from devastating hurricanes, and protect Americans from a
    potential influenza pandemic.
        Sections 1209 and 2202 of the Act prohibit use of certain funds
    appropriated in the Act to initiate new start programs unless the
    congressional defense committees receive advance written notice. The
    Supreme Court of the United States has stated that the President's
    authority to classify and control access to information bearing on the
    national security flows from the Constitution and does not depend upon a
    legislative grant of authority. Although the advance notice contemplated
    by sections 1209 and 2202 can be provided in most situations as a matter
    of comity, situations may arise, especially in wartime, in which the
    President must act promptly under his constitutional grants of executive
    power and authority as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces while
    protecting certain extraordinarily sensitive national security
    information. The executive branch shall construe these sections in a
    manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.
        Subsection 1304(a) of the Act amends section 550 of Public Law 109-
    102 to purport to require the President to consult with committees of
    the Congress prior to exercising authority granted to the President by
    section 550. Subsection 1304(b) purports to require the Secretary of
    State to consult such committees prior to exercising authority under
    that provision. Because the President's constitutional authority to
    supervise the unitary executive branch and take care that the laws be
    faithfully executed cannot be made by law subject to a requirement to
    consult with congressional committees or to involve them in executive
    decision-making, the executive branch shall construe the references in
    the provisions to consulting to require only notification.
        The provision under the heading, ``Joint Explosive Device Defeat
    Fund,'' Department of Defense-Military, that calls for the reporting to
    congressional committees of information that may include highly
    sensitive and classified national security information, will be
    construed consistently with the President's constitutional
    responsibility to control the dissemination of such information.
        The executive branch shall construe the provision in the Act under
    the heading ``Disaster Relief,'' Federal Emergency Management Agency,
    Department of Homeland Security, that purports to require the Secretary
    of Homeland Security to submit a housing proposal and expenditure plan
    for congressional committee approval as calling solely for notification,
    as any other construction would be inconsistent with the constitutional
    principles enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States in INS
    v. Chadha.
        Sections 7030 through 7033 of the Act, inclusive, purport to make
    changes in or in relation to statements of managers that accompanied
    various appropriations bills reported from House-Senate conferences in
    the past. Also, a provision in chapter 9 of the Act under the heading
    ``Emergency Relief Program,'' Federal Highway Administration, Department
    of Transportation, purports to give binding effect to a document not
    presented to the President. The executive branch shall construe these
    provisions in a manner consistent with the bicameral passage and
    presentment requirements of the Constitution for the making of a law.
                                                    George W. Bush
     The White House,
     June 15, 2006.

    Note: H.R. 4939, approved June 15, was assigned Public Law No. 109-234.

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