Statement on Signing the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2006,
November 19, 2005

I have signed into law H.R. 2419, the "Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2006." The Act funds programs of the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and several other agencies, and provides funds to help protect the Nation’s environment.

The executive branch shall construe sections 101 and 303 of the Act as calling for, but not mandating, consultation with the Congress as a precondition to the execution of a law, as is consistent with the Constitution’s provisions concerning the separate powers of the Congress to legislate and the President to execute the laws.

George W. Bush
The White House,
November 19, 2005.

Note: H.R. 2419, approved November 19, was assigned Public Law No. 109-103. This statement was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on November 20. An original was not available for verification of the content of this statement.