LAST Saturday, I commented on several of the bills which passed the Congress during its closing days and which I decided to approve. Today I am announcing a number of additional decisions concerning bills which have come to me for signature.
A list of the additional legislation which I am signing will be released with this statement.
I am taking this opportunity to comment on some of the most significant bills which are included on that list.
HELPING MINORITY ENTERPRISES AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES
In messages to the Congress in late 1971 and early 1972, I requested that our program to help minority enterprise be strengthened by giving four new authorities to Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Companies. S. 3337, the Small Business Investment Act Amendments of 1972, adopts all four of these recommendations--lowering requirements for Federal assistance, providing increased equity by enabling the Small Business Administration to purchase preferred stock in such a company, lowering interest rates on SBA loans to such companies, and allowing them to organize as nonprofit corporations so as to qualify for more favorable tax treatment. It also strengthens regular Small Business Investment Companies, permitting maximum utilization of the SBIC guarantee authority which this Administration had earlier sought, and which was enacted last year. As a result of this bill, more Americans--especially disadvantaged Americans--will be able to gain a piece of the economic action in our country, and we will be closer to our goal of providing an equal opportunity for every citizen to share fully in the great American adventure.
MEETING HEALTH NEEDS
The Emergency Health Personnel Act Amendments of 1972, S. 3858, will strengthen and extend the life of the National Health Service Corps which has been working for the last 2 years to meet the needs of areas with critical health manpower shortages. In order to improve recruitment for this program, the bill also authorizes a program of scholarships for students in the health professions. This legislation addresses a need which has concerned me for a long time, and I am pleased to sign it into law.
Another important initiative in the health field is H.R. 15475, a bill which establishes a National Advisory Commission on Multiple Sclerosis to help determine the most effective means for finding the causes and cures for this disease. It represents a promising step in our battle against a terrible and elusive enemy, and I am happy to give it my approval.
OTHER FORWARD STEPS
Among the many other bills receiving my approval are S. 2318, which will update and expand compensation benefits for longshoremen and harbor workers; S. 3843, which helps restore and replace essential railway facilities and equipment which were damaged during Hurricane Agnes and other natural disasters this past June; H.R. 8273, which liberalizes the Immigration and Nationality Act; and H.R. 15461, which implements the boundary treaty which our Government signed with Mexico in 1970. Another significant forward step is the creation, by H.R. 10751, of the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, a measure which I discussed in a separate statement last week.
One of the purposes of another of these bills, H.R. 4.678, is to prohibit the importation into the United States of precious pre-Columbian art treasures illegally removed from their countries of origin-our close friends and neighbors of Central America. It is with special pleasure that I sign this legislation.
I am also very happy to sign H.R. 14911, which will allow prisoners of war and those who are missing in action to accumulate military leave time at the normal rate without limitation, so that they or their survivors can be more generously reimbursed when they are returned from prisoner-of-war or missing status. This same bill also carries out another Administration recommendation by authorizing a second Deputy Secretary of Defense to be appointed by the President.
Note: The list of bills referred to in the statement also included the following:
H.J. Res. 733, granting the consent of Congress to certain boundary agreements between the States of Maryland and Virginia
H.J. Res. 912, granting the consent of Congress to an agreement between the States of North Carolina and Virginia establishing their lateral seaward boundary
H.R. 1467, amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 with respect to personal exemptions for American Samoans
H.R. 3786, providing for the free entry of a four octave carillon for the use of Marquette University in Wisconsin
H.R. 7093, providing for the disposition of judgment funds of the Osage Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
H.R. 10556, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to sell reserved mineral interests of the United States in certain land in Georgia to Thomas A. Buiso
H.R. 10638, providing for the relief of John P. Woodson, his heirs, successors in interest or assigns
H.R. 11563, waiving employee deductions for Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance purposes during a period of erroneous removal or suspension
H.R. 11773, relating to exclusion of D.C. Metropolitan Police Department personnel records from public inspection
H.R. 12807, establishing Federal policy for selection of firms and individuals to perform architectural, engineering, and related services for the Federal Government
H.R. 13158, naming a bridge across the Oakland tidal canal the George P. Miller-Leland W. Sweeney Bridge
H.R. 14542, extending period for increase in the authorized numbers of certain grades of Air Force officers
H.R. 14628, amending the internal Revenue Code of 1954 with respect to the tax laws applicable to Guam
H.R. 15735, authorizing the transfer of a vessel by the Secretary of Commerce to the New York City Board of Education for educational purposes
H.R. 15763, providing for additional members of the National Historical Publications Commission
H.R. 16074, authorizing appropriations for jellyfish control programs
H.R. 16804, renaming the Mineola Dam and Lake as the Carl L. Estes Dam and Lake
H.R. 16883, relating to compensation of members of the National Commission on the Financing of Postsecondary Education
H.R. 16925, extending authority for special pay for nuclear-qualified naval personnel
H.R. 17034, Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1973
H.R. 17038, designating the Oakley Reservoir on the Sangamon River, Decatur, III, as the William L. Springer Lake
S. 216, permitting suits to adjudicate certain real property quiet title actions
S. 655, providing for the relief of certain postal employees at the Elmhurst, Ill., Post Office
S. 909, providing for the relief of John C. Rogers
S. 1462, providing for the disposition of funds appropriated to pay judgment in favor of the Mississippi Sioux Indians
S. 1524, providing a limitation of actions for actions arising out of death or injury caused by a defective or unsafe improvement to real property
S. 1971 declaring a portion of the Delaware River in Philadelphia County, Pa., nonnavigable
S. 2147, providing for the relief of Marie M. Ridgely
S. 2270, providing for the relief of Magnus David Forrester
S. 2275, providing for the relief of Wolfgang Kutter
S. 2469, providing for the relief of Kenneth J. Wolff
S. 2714, providing for the relief of M. Sgt. William G. Harpold, USMG (retired)
S. 2741, expanding the program authorizing aircraft loan guarantees
S. 2753, providing for the relief of John C. Mayoros
S. 2822, providing for the relief of Alberto Rodriguez
S. 3055, providing for the relief of Maurice Marchbanks
S. 3230, providing for the division and disposition of funds appropriated to pay a judgment in favor of the Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Reservations, Mont.
S. 3240, Transportation Payment Act of 1972
S. 3057, providing for the relief of Gary Wentworth
S. 3310, establishing the authorized strength of Naval Reserve officers in the Judge Advocate General's Corps in the grade of rear admiral
S. 3396, providing for the relief of the Appalachian Regional Hospitals, Incorporated
S. 3483, providing for the relief of Cass County, N. Dak.
S. 3524, extending the provisions of the Commercial Fisheries Research and Development Act of 1964
S. 3545, amending the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 S. 3583, providing for the relief of Gerald Vincent Bull
S. 3671, mending the provisions of law relating to the Administrative Conference of the United States
S. 3822, authorizing the City of Clinton Bridge Commission to convey its bridge structures and other assets to the State of Iowa and to provide for the completion of interstate bridge facilities across the Mississippi River near Clinton, Iowa
S.J. Res. 204, authorizing the preparation of a history of public works in the United States
S.J. Res. 221, designating Benjamin Franklin Memorial Hall in Philadelphia as the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial
On October 30, 1972, the White House released the transcript of a news briefing on the President's decision to approve the bills by John D. Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs, and Elliot L. Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Richard Nixon, Statement About Decision To Sign Additional Bills Passed by the Congress Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/255526