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Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Extension Statement on Signing H.R. 7018 Into Law.

December 17, 1980

I have today signed H.R. 7018, a bill to extend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act until September 30, 1981.

In approving this bill, I want to emphasize my view, and that of the Attorney General, that section 4 is unconstitutional. Section 4 purports to allow Congress to disapprove agency regulations issued under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act by a concurrent resolution not submitted to the President for his approval. For that reason, section 4 violates Article I, section 7 of the Constitution. Relatedly, section 4 violates the constitutional separation of powers by purporting to give Congress a role in administering substantive statutory programs. In accordance with my June 21, 1978, message to Congress, the executive branch will treat section 4 as a "report and wait" provision and will not consider a congressional expression of disapproval under section 4 to be legally binding.

Note: As enacted, H.R. 7018 is Public Law 96-539, approved December 17.

Jimmy Carter, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Extension Statement on Signing H.R. 7018 Into Law. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/250638

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