For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 28, 2001

Executive Order on Succession at the Department of Health and Human Services
Executive Order Providing An Order of Succession Within the Department of Health and Human Services

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., it is hereby ordered that:

Section 1.  Subject to the provisions of section 3 of this order, the officers named in section 2, in the order listed, shall act as and perform the functions and duties of the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) during any period when both the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (Deputy Secretary) have died, resigned, or become otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the office of Secretary.

Sec. 2.  Order of Succession.

(a)  The Assistant Secretaries of Health and Human Services appointed

by the President and confirmed by the Senate, in the order in which

they shall have taken the oath of office as such;

(b)  The General Counsel of the Department of Health and Human

Services; and

(c)  Other officers within the Department of Health and Human Services

who have been appointed by the President by and with the consent of

the Senate, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of

office as such.

Sec. 3.  Exceptions.

(a)  No individual who is serving in an office listed in section

2(a)-(c) of this order in an acting capacity shall act as

Secretary pursuant to this order.

(b)  Notwithstanding the provisions of this order, the President

retains discretion, to the extent permitted by the Federal

Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., to depart

from this order in designating an acting Secretary.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

December 28, 2001.

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