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legislation is the development of a National Aquatic Ecosystem 

 Restoration Strategy. The Department believes that a coordinated 

 Strategy is needed and welcomes the opportunity to lead efforts 

 to develop and implement this Strategy. 



We note however that authority to implement the Strategy, appoint 

 Council members, and chair the Council should be vested in a 

 cabinet officer, rather than in a bureau chief, such as the 

 Director of thc= U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The Administration 

 will also submit in its report, suggestions for perfecting the 

 makeup of, and relationship between, the Council and the Task 

 Force. More generally, the Justice Department advises that 

 making a cabinet officer the official who appoints Council 

 members is necessary for the bill to be consistent with the 

 Constitution's Appointments Clause. Similary, the Council 

 members from the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, and 

 Commerce should be appointed by the Secretaries of those 

 Departments. 



In addition, with regard to the Task Force, we suggest that the 

 Environmental Protection Agency, .the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture, the Bureau of Land Management, National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration of the Department of. Commerce, the 

 Army Corps of Engineers, Tennessee Valley Authority, and the 

 Bureau of Reclamation be identified as member agencies of this 

 Task Force, with other appropriate Federal members to be 



