Presidential Memoranda: Sanctions, Syria, STEM

This is the continuation of the review of Presidential memoranda.

Delegation of Certain Functions and Authorities Under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017

This memorandum, signed on October 11, 2017, is in response to PL115-44 which was passed in August of 2017 (HR3364).  The Act is long and this memorandum deals with sections 104 through 112 and delegates the functions, responsibilities and authorities assigned to the President to relevant cabinet members.  For example, subsection 1(a) delegates to the Secretary of State what the President is required to do under section 110.  Section 110 calls for a report to Congress on US citizens detained by Iran which includes what efforts are being taken to gain their release.  The memorandum has 3 sections, the first section is all as described previously and if one has an interest in what kinds of sanctions are being imposed on Iran, then the details in the references sections are fascinating.  Section 2 of the memorandum states that if the language in the law is changed a little, the delegations remain in place.  Section 3 directs the Secretary of State to publish the memorandum in the Federal Register.  This raises a question for me in that if determinations are made by cabinet members under delegation by such a memo, are these published as Presidential determinations or as determinations by the cabinet member and are these generally available on the internet?

Delegation of Authority under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017

This memorandum, issued on September 25, 2017 is addressed to the Secretary of State.  This memorandum delegate the functions and authorities under section 10006 of PL115-31 to the Secretary of State.  Section 10006 requires that the President (now delegated to the Secretary of State) shall transmit a report within 90 days describing a strategy for Syria.

Increasing Access to High-Quality Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education

This memorandum was signed on September 25th, 2017 and is addressed to the Secretary of Education.  It has 4 sections.

Section 1

This section defines the policy which is to increase the availability of STEM education, especially in areas that have been identified to where it is proportionally less available.

Section 2

This section directs the Secretary of Education to make Computer Science an area of priority.  It promises a minimum of $200 million per year in grants, which does not seem like it is really very much, although it certainly is better than nothing.  Subsection (c) is particularly ironic since one of the criticisms that was played up during the campaign and discussed during the hearings for the confirmation of the current Secretary of Education is that the Federal Government shouldn't tell local  jurisdictions what or how to teach the kids.  And yet, here we are, having the Secretary of Education promote Computer Science in K-12 and post-secondary education at the directions of the anti-administrative president.  Finally, there is to be a report created annually on the progress made as a part of this directive.

Section 3

This section defines the term Computer Science.

Section 4

This section includes the typical legal fine print and includes a directive to have it published in the Federal Register.  It is ironic that this was not issued as an Executive Order.  Clearly, someone had prepared it in the appropriate format although the needed citation of authority needs to be added.  It is disheartening to see that this opportunity was missed to emphasize just how important education is for the future of the country. especially education focusing on technology.