United States President George W. Bush lowered the status of the PLO mission in the United States. His action was pursuant to a clause in the State Department budget that allows the US President to do so if the PLO fails to live up to its commitments to the United States. The letter officially activating the relevant clause, sent to Secretary of State Colin Powell, reserves for Bush the right to defer the status change at any point. Sources in the US administration said that the status change would be in effect for 180 days, or until the PLO submits a report to the State Department showing that the organization has fulfilled its commitments to the United States. Those commitments include resolving the Israeli-PLO conflict through peaceful means and a renunciation of terrorism and acts of violence.