Whereas this is a Nation of States, and federalism is
central to the structure of government and the very definition of American
constitutionalism;
Whereas as James Madison famously noted in The Federalist,
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal
government are few and defined
, and that Those which are to
remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.
;
Whereas throughout American history and the laws of the
United States, most powers of government and as a result the decisions that
affect citizens’ day-to-day lives were to be made at the State level;
Whereas the relationship between the Federal Government,
the several States, and the sovereign people is summed up most succinctly in
the Tenth Amendment, The powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the
States respectively, or to the people.
;
Whereas the structural division of powers and functions
between the Federal Government and the several States provides a double
security against abusive government by causing each level of government to
check the other in the name of upholding the rights and protecting the
liberties of the people of the United States;
Whereas in recognizing and protecting a sphere of State
autonomy and local self-government, federalism has expanded liberty,
accommodated a vast diversity of opinions, and fostered an extensive array of
policy innovations in addressing and solving many of the Nation’s greatest
challenges;
Whereas ever-increasing amounts of regulations and laws
emanating from the Federal Government, occurring in stages over the whole
course of the 20th century but gathering particular momentum with the expansion
of regulatory government in the 1960s, have centralized and bureaucratized
political rule in the United States, undermining the balance of federalism and
threatening self-government;
Whereas under the current Administration, the ideology of
big government has found a new voice and a new sponsor, and the results, from
massive spending to the takeover of whole industries to new regulatory
initiatives to the explosion of debt, have been especially threatening and
destructive to the idea and structural integrity of federalism;
Whereas in an atmosphere where courts and the executive
seem to be moving in the opposite direction, a new Congress must take upon
itself the responsibility to limit the scope of Federal powers and extend the
ability of the several States to assert their legitimate powers, and thereby
provide for the dynamism, opportunities, and creativity needed to solve
problems, foster prosperity, and get the United States moving in the right
direction; and
Whereas there are many policy areas that have become
Federal Government concerns but are better dealt with at the State and local
levels of government, the devolution of which will provide the dynamism,
opportunities, and creativity in solving problems and fostering prosperity in
the United States: Now, therefore, be it
That—
(1)the House of Representatives—
(A)recognizes that the cause of liberty
demands that government should be made accountable again to the consent of the
governed, bringing it closer to the people and returning to them control over
their lives while making it better able to solve their problems and serve their
common good; and
(B)recognizes the
historic and continuing importance of federalism and reaffirms its commitment
to safeguard and uphold constitutional government as defined by the Tenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution; and
(2)it is the sense of
the House of Representatives that—
(A)this situation
requires, and the very future of freedom and limited government depends on, a
restoration of American federalism and a real decentralization of government
power and vast areas of policymaking from the Federal Government to States,
local communities, neighborhoods, families, and individual citizens; and
(B)while recognizing that the restoration of
federalism will require a widespread and extensive restructuring of Federal
Government operations and that not all or even most of the solutions come from
the national capital, the best path toward achieving the goal of real
structural reform is through practical but significant policy reforms that will
allow the several States to prove the virtues of federalism and thereby build a
new nationwide consensus for decentralizing political power in the United
States.