•HRES 626 IH 
nection with provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act 
and related authorities, including unauthorized sur-
veillance and improper collection of communications 
data that were serious enough to require notification 
of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board. 
(3) Despite these reports, Attorney General 
Alberto R. Gonzales told Congress and the American 
people in the course of the Administration’s 2005 
campaign to reauthorize the USA PATRIOT Act of 
2001 that ‘‘[t]he track record established over the 
past three years has demonstrated the effectiveness 
of the safeguards of civil liberties put in place when 
the Act was passed,’’ that ‘‘[t]here has not been one 
verified case of civil liberties abuse,’’ and that ‘‘no 
one has provided me with evidence that the Patriot 
Act is being abused or misused’’. 
(4) The United States Department of Justice 
sent a 10-page letter to Congress dated November 
23, 2005— 
(A) stating that a November 6, 2005, 
Washington Post story detailing the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation’s use of National Secu-
rity Letters was a ‘‘materially misleading por-
trayal’’ full of ‘‘distortions and factual errors’’; 
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•HRES 626 IH 
(B) defending its use of National Security 
Letters by pointing to the Department’s ‘‘ro-
bust mechanisms for checking misuse,’’ ‘‘signifi-
cant internal oversight and checks,’’ and re-
ports to Congress regarding the number of Na-
tional Security Letters issued; and 
(C) stating that the November 6, 2005, 
Washington Post story was inaccurate in stat-
ing that ‘‘The FBI now issues more than 
30,000 National Security Letters a year, . . . a 
hundredfold increase over historic norms.’’. 
(5) On March 9, 2007, the Inspector General 
for the United States Department of Justice issued 
a report on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 
use of National Security Letters from 2003 through 
2005— 
(A) that the Inspector General said found 
‘‘widespread and serious misuse of the FBI’s 
national security letter authorities’’ that ‘‘in 
many instances . . . violated NSL statutes, At-
torney General Guidelines, or the FBI’s own in-
ternal policies,’’ and found that ‘‘the FBI did 
not provide adequate guidance, adequate con-
trols, or adequate training on the use of these 
sensitive authorities’’; and 
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•HRES 626 IH 
(B) that indicated the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation issued approximately 39,000 Na-
tional Security Letter requests in 2003, 56,000 
National Security Letter requests in 2004, and 
47,000 National Security Letter requests in 
2005. 
(6) The United States Department of Justice 
sent a letter on March 9, 2007, to Congress, admit-
ting that it had ‘‘determined that certain statements 
in our November 23, 2005 letter need clarification’’ 
in light of the Inspector General’s findings and that 
‘‘the reports [The Department of Justice] provided 
Congress in response to statutory reporting require-
ments did not accurately reflect the FBI’s use of 
NSLs’’. 
(e) SIGNING STATEMENTS.—The House of Rep-
resentatives finds the following: 
(1) President George W. Bush has lodged more 
than 800 challenges to duly enacted provisions of 
law by issuing signing statements that indicate that 
the President does not believe he must comply with 
such provisions of law. 
(2) Such signing statements effectively assign 
to the executive branch alone the decision whether to 
fully comply with the laws that Congress has passed. 
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•HRES 626 IH 
(3) On December 30, 2005, President George 
W. Bush signed the Department of Defense Emer-
gency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hur-
ricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influ-
enza Act, 2006, title X of which prohibits the Gov-
ernment from subjecting any individual ‘‘in the cus-
tody or under the physical control of the United 
States Government, regardless of nationality or 
physical location’’ to ‘‘cruel, inhuman, or degrading 
treatment or punishment’’. 
(4) President George W. Bush issued a signing 
statement to such Act that suggested he believed he 
did not have to comply with the prohibition on tor-
ture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, 
stating: ‘‘The executive branch shall construe Title 
X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in 
a manner consistent with the constitutional author-
ity of the President to supervise the unitary execu-
tive branch and as Commander in Chief and con-
sistent with the constitutional limitations on the ju-
dicial power, which will assist in achieving the 
shared objective of the Congress and the President, 
evidenced in Title X, of protecting the American 
people from further terrorist attacks.’’. 
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(5) On March 9, 2006, President George W. 
Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Improvement and 
Reauthorization Act of 2005, which requires that 
the executive branch furnish reports to Congress on 
certain surveillance activities. 
(6) President George W. Bush issued a signing 
statement to such Act that suggested he believed he 
did not have to comply fully with these reporting re-
quirements, stating: ‘‘The executive branch shall 
construe the provisions of H.R. 3199 that call for 
furnishing information to entities outside the execu-
tive branch, such as sections 106A and 119, in a 
manner consistent with the President’s constitu-
tional authority to supervise the unitary executive 
branch and to withhold information the disclosure of 
which could impair foreign relations, national secu-
rity, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or 
the performance of the Executive’s constitutional du-
ties.’’. 
(7) On December 20, 2006, President George 
W. Bush signed the Postal Accountability and En-
hancement Act, which protects certain classes of 
sealed domestic mail from being opened except in 
specifically defined circumstances. 
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(8) President George W. Bush issued a signing 
statement to such Act that suggested he believed he 
did not have to comply with this provision, stating: 
‘‘The executive branch shall construe subsection 
404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e) 
of the Act, which provides for opening of an item of 
a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, 
in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent per-
missible, with the need to conduct searches in exi-
gent circumstances, such as to protect human life 
and safety against hazardous materials, and the 
need for physical searches specifically authorized by 
law for foreign intelligence collection.’’ 
(9) The American Bar Association Task Force 
on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separa-
tion of Powers Doctrine concluded that President 
George W. Bush’s misuse of signing statements 
‘‘weaken[s] our cherished system of checks and bal-
ances and separation of powers’’. 
SEC. 2. CENSURE BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
The House of Representatives censures George W. 
Bush, President of the United States, and Alberto R. 
Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, and con-
demns their lengthy record of— 
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(1) undermining the rule of law and the separa-
tion of powers; 
(2) disregarding statutes, treaties ratified by 
the United States, and the Constitution; and 
(3) repeatedly misleading the American people. 
Æ 
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