Providing for the Closing of Government 
                Departments and Agencies on January 2, 2007

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and laws of the United States of America, 
                it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. All executive departments, independent 
                establishments, and other governmental agencies shall 
                be closed on January 2, 2007, as a mark of respect for 
                Gerald R. Ford, the thirty-eighth President of the 
                United States. That day shall be considered as falling 
                within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 
                11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other 
                similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and 
                leave of employees of the United States.

                Sec. 2. The first sentence of section 1 of this order 
                shall not apply to those offices and installations, or 
                parts thereof, in the Department of State, the 
                Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the 
                Department of Homeland Security, or other departments, 
                independent establishments, and governmental agencies 
                that the heads thereof determine should remain open for 
                reasons of national security or defense or other 
                essential public business.
                
                
                     President, George Bush

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                     December 28, 2006.