For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 10, 2005

President's Statement on H.R. 2744, the "Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006"

Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2744, the "Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006." The Act funds important agriculture, food safety, natural resource and other programs of the Federal Government.

The executive branch shall construe certain provisions of the Act that purport to require congressional committee approval for the execution of a law as calling solely for notification, as any other construction would be inconsistent with the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States in INS v. Chadha. These provisions include sections 705, 716, and 732, and language under the heading "Food and Drug Administration, Salaries and Expenses."

The executive branch shall construe section 715, which purports to regulate the transmission of information by employees at the Department of Agriculture, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to faithfully execute the laws and to supervise the unitary executive branch.

The executive branch shall construe section 719, which purports to regulate the transmittal of legislative recommendations by executive branch officials to the Congress, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to recommend such measures to the Congress as he deems necessary and expedient.

Several provisions of the bill relate to race or ethnicity. The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the requirement that the Federal Government afford equal protection of the laws under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

November 10, 2005.

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