For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 3, 2003

Statement on H.R. 659
Statement by the Press Secretary

On Friday, October 3, 2003, the President signed into law:

H.R. 659, the "Hospital Mortgage Insurance Act of 2003", which requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a process to determine the need and feasibility for certain hospitals that apply for Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages;

H.R. 978, which adjusts Federal annuity computations under the Federal Employees Retirement System for certain employees who are absent from work for two months or more as a result of a workplace injury or illness;

S. 111, which requires the Department of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine whether the Miami Circle site in Miami, Florida, is nationally significant, suitable and feasible to include in Biscayne National Park;

S. 233, the "Coltsville Study Act of 2003", which requires the Department of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of establishing the Coltsville site, in the State of Connecticut, as a unit of the National Park System; and

S. 278, the "Mount Naomi Wilderness Boundary Adjustment Act", which revises the boundaries of the Mount Naomi Wilderness Area in Utah.

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