For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 23, 2002

Statement by the President

I have signed into law H.R. 2068, a bill "to revise, codify, and enact without substantive change certain general and permanent laws, related to public buildings, property, and works, as title 40, United States Code, 'Public Buildings, Property, and Works'." This measure is the latest in a series that is intended to enact all titles of the United States Code into positive law.

In approving this bill, I note that section 312(b)(2), concerning cert in transfers of funds for equipment purchases, and section 3305(a)(3), concerning the use of land as a site for a public building, state that the executive branch may take action only after receiving the approval of certain committees of Congress. The constitutional requirement of bicameralism and presentment is infringed whenever a single house, committee, or agent of Congress attempts to direct the execution of the laws or to promulgate rules or standards intended to bind the actions of executive or administrative officials that have not been approved by both houses and presented to the President. INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 958 59 (1983). The executive branch will therefore interpret these and similar provisions to require advance notification only, since any other interpretation would contradict the Supreme Court's ruling in INS v. Chadha.

GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 23, 2002.

# # #

Printer-Friendly Version

Email this page to a friend