Today, I have signed into law S. 442, the “National Aeronautics and Space Administration Transition Authorization Act of 2017.” The Act authorizes appropriations for Fiscal Year 2017 for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and amends its authorities.
Several provisions of the Act, including sections 301, 303, and 414, purport to require the executive branch to undertake certain international diplomatic initiatives to advance specific objectives regarding the space program. Consistent with longstanding constitutional practice, my Administration will treat these sections in a manner that does not interfere with the President’s exclusive constitutional authority to conduct international diplomacy.
Furthermore, several provisions of the Act, including sections 303(c), 305(a), and 702(e), purport to constrain the discretion of the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in recommending legislative measures to the Congress, either by requiring certain legislative recommendations or by restricting my constitutional authority to make recommendations to the Congress. My Administration, including the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will treat those provisions in a manner consistent with the President’s constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and Article II, section 3 of the Constitution, which provides the President the authority to recommend to the Congress only “such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 21, 2017.
