[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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