[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 24, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H5875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PROPERTY OWNERS AT RISK

  (Mr. SULLIVAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. Speaker, yesterday was the third anniversary of the 
Supreme Court's 2005 decision in the Kelo v. City of New London case.
  In that decision, a divided Supreme Court ruled that the government 
may take people's homes and bulldoze them to make way for strip malls 
or other private development in order to increase tax revenue.
  The negative effects of this far-reaching decision places all private 
property owners at risk. No property owner is safe if the government 
decides that their land would serve a better purpose and be an economic 
gain if something bigger and more taxable were in its place.
  To combat these unjust property takings, I introduced H.R. 6219 to 
protect the rights of the private property owners. With this bill, all 
Americans now have the tools they need to fight unjust property takings 
and defend their homes and small businesses.
  The government has overstepped its bounds in taking private property 
from people. It has also done the wrong thing in not allowing us to 
drill for oil and gas in America. It is very important that we get it 
in our own backyard. A lot of people on the Democratic side talk about 
alternative energy sources, and that is good. And we as Republicans 
believe in that. But also, we believe we need to get energy right here 
in our own backyard as well as we need to develop these technologies.

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