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20060817 – Signs Pension Act, refuses to report on socks

On August 17th, 2006 President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act of
2006, but added the signing statement below:

[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
From the 2006 Presidential Documents Online via GPO Access [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:pd21au06_txt-11]

[Page 1470-1471]

Pages 1455 1477

Week Ending Friday, August 18, 2006

Statement on Signing the Pension Protection Act of 2006

August 17, 2006

Today I have signed into law H.R. 4, the “Pension Protection Act of
2006.” This legislation strengthens the pension insurance system and
ensures that workers will receive better information about their pension
plans. The legislation makes permanent the deductible limits for
contributions to Individual Retirement Accounts and 401(k) plans,
encourages employers to automatically enroll workers in 401(k) plans,
and expands workers’ access to investment advice.
The executive branch shall construe sections 221(a) and 1632(b)(1)
of the Act, which call for the submission of legislative recommendations
to the Congress, in a manner consistent with the constitutional
authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and
to recommend for the consideration of the Congress such measures as the
President shall judge necessary and expedient.
Section 1634(e) purports to require the United States Trade
Representative to submit to congressional committees the contents of the
negotiating positions of the United States and foreign countries in
certain international trade negotiations. The executive branch shall
construe section 1634(e) in a

[[Page 1471]]

manner consistent with the President’s constitutional authority to
conduct the Nation’s foreign affairs including negotiations with foreign
countries, supervise the unitary executive branch, and to withhold
information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations,
national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the
performance of the Executive’s constitutional duties.
George W. Bush
The White House,
August 17, 2006.

Note: H.R. 4, approved August 17, was assigned Public Law No. 109-280.

According to Congress’ Thomas service, the offending section 1634(e) reads this way:

(e) Reporting Requirements on Certain Negotiations and Amendments to DR-CAFTA Agreement-

(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and at least quarterly thereafter, the United States Trade Representative shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the status of negotiations and amendments proposed by the United States, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic to the Agreement regarding any change to the rule of origin or alteration of the tariff treatment of socks described in paragraph (2) or any technical correction described in paragraph (3). In addition, the United States Trade Representative shall provide to the appropriate congressional committees copies of any amendments to be proposed by the United States before the amendments are offered and copies of any amendments received by the United States relating to such negotiations.

(2) SOCKS DESCRIBED- For purposes of paragraph (1), the term `socks’ means articles classifiable under subheading 6111.20.6050, 6111.30.5050, 6111.90.5050, 6115.91.00, 6115.92.60, 6115.92.90, 6115.93.60, 6115.93.90, 6115.99.14, or 6115.99.18 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

(3) TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS DESCRIBED- Technical corrections referred to in paragraph (1) are the following:

(A) Clarification of references to `elastomeric yarns’ contained in the notes, subheading notes, additional U.S. notes, and statistical notes to chapters 50 to 63 (section XI) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

(B) Clarification of the ability to apply short supply provisions to sewing thread, narrow elastics, and visible linings.

(C) Treatment of women’s and girls’ woven sleep bottoms under Annex 4.1 of the Agreement.

(D) Addition of a rule of origin for women’s and girls’ woven sleep bottoms to reflect the rule of origin provided for in subheading 6207.11.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States and contained in Annex 4.1 of the Agreement.

(E) Provision of women’s and girls’ sleep bottoms under Annex 4.1-A of the Agreement.

(4) DEFINITION- In this subsection, the term `appropriate congressional committees’ means the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate.

(5) SUNSET- The requirements of paragraph (1) expire on the date on which any change is made to the rule of origin pursuant to article 3.25 of the Agreement for any good described in paragraph (2), or December 31, 2007, whichever occurs later.

I realize I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like all Congress wants here is to be consulted before the Adminstration changes the rules on socks. This is “information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive’s constitutional duties?” Who knew that socks were so vital to the existance of the Republic? Maybe we should all wear Birkenstocks!

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


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