[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 28 (Monday, July 17, 2006)]
[Pages 1325-1326]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 
2006

July 11, 2006

    I have today signed into law H.R. 889, the ``Coast Guard and 
Maritime Transportation Act of 2006.'' The Act authorizes funding for 
and strengthens the ability of the United States Coast Guard to perform 
its missions.
    The executive branch shall construe the reference to the ``National 
Intelligence Director'' in section 309 of the Act, amending section 
70105(c) of title 46, United States Code, to be a reference to the 
position of Director of National Intelligence established by law (50 
U.S.C. 403(a)(1)).
    The executive branch shall construe section 408(c) of the Act, which 
purports to make consultation with a legislative agent a precondition to 
execution of the law, to call for but not mandate such consultation, as 
is consistent with the Constitution's provisions concerning the separate 
powers of the Congress to legislate and the President to execute the 
laws.
    Section 801 of the Act purports to require the Secretary of the 
department in which the Coast Guard is operating to work at the 
International Maritime Organization with foreign nations toward 
specified international objectives. The executive branch shall construe 
the provision to be advisory, as is consistent with the constitutional 
commitment to the President of responsibility for conducting the foreign 
relations of the United States, including the exclusive responsibility 
for formulating the position of the United States in international fora 
and conducting negotiations with foreign nations.
                                                George W. Bush
The White House,
July 11, 2006.

Note: H.R. 889, approved July 11, was assigned Public Law No. 109-241.

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