Statement on Signing the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993

I have signed into law H.R. 5503, the "Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993." H.R. 5503 provides funds for various programs of the Departments of the Interior and Energy, the Forest Service (Department of Agriculture), and the Indian Health Service (Department of Health and Human Services). Funding for other agencies such as the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Holocaust Memorial Council is also included.

This Act provides funding for important Federal recreation and conservation activities, including the expansion of national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges. Many nationally significant natural and cultural resources will be protected by the appropriations provided in this Act.

I do have concerns with certain provisions of the Act. The Congress has included funding for a number of unnecessary, low-priority construction projects and ineffective programs. These funds would be more effectively utilized for my America the Beautiful initiative for national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other public lands.

I strongly object to the reduction in the Act for the new natural gas research and development program. The National Energy Strategy (NES) concluded that the use of domestically abundant natural gas resources could increase energy security and improve the environment. This reduction will impede the development of ultra-high efficiency gas turbines and other gas technologies that are needed to achieve NES goals.

A number of provisions in the Act condition the authority of executive branch officials to use funds otherwise appropriated by this Act, or to take other specified actions, on the approval of various committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate. These provisions constitute legislative vetoes similar to those declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in INS v. Chadha. Accordingly, I will treat them as having no legal force or effect in this or any other legislation in which they appear.

George Bush

The White House,

October 5, 1992.