For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 15, 2002

Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives
March 14, 2002

Dear Mr. Speaker:

I ask the Congress to consider the enclosed requests for FY 2003 budget amendments for the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Labor, Transportation, and the Treasury; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.   The discretionary budget authority proposed in my FY 2003 Budget would not be increased by these requests.  However, the total budgetary resources available to the Department of Transportation would increase by $596 million.

This transmittal also contains FY 2003 budget amendments for the Legislative Branch.  As a matter of comity, appropriations requests of the Legislative Branch are transmitted without change.  These additional amendments would increase discretionary resources for the Legislative Branch by $40.4 million.

The details of these requests are set forth in the enclosed letter from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.   I concur with his comments and observations.

Sincerely,

GEORGE W. BUSH

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