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Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill Authorizing an Official Residence for the Vice President.

April 10, 1966

I AM SIGNING S. 2394, authorizing the Administrator of General Services to plan, design, construct, furnish, and maintain an official residence for the Vice President on approximately 10 acres at the Naval Observatory in Washington.

The bill I sign today is an authorization measure. Funds for the construction of the residence can be obtained only after Congress again approves whatever appropriations it deems wise and necessary.

In this connection, the Vice President has informed me that he wrote to the Director of the Budget Bureau, Mr. Schultze, on April 7, 1966, requesting that no funds for construction be sought at this time. In the words of the Vice President's letter, "This is the time, instead, in which our government is setting an example of prudent budget practices, delaying those construction projects which are not of the highest priority. This is a project which is desirable but deferrable."

The Congress within the past 9 days acted upon this measure and sent it to me. And while I shall sign this legislation into law, I shall repeat the Vice President's request that funds for construction of the residence not be appropriated by the Congress during this period. Congress has been considerate, and at a more opportune time funding this authorization might be justified. I agree with the Vice President's statement in his letter to the Director of the Budget that he "would not feel it necessary nor appropriate for the Congress to provide funds for construction at this time."

Note: As enacted, S. 2394 is Public Law 89-386 (80 Stat. 106). The statement was released at San Antonio, Texas.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill Authorizing an Official Residence for the Vice President. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239389

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