[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 25, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H2810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   ON H.R. 1105, THE OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL, AND THE NEEDS TO PROTECT 
           PRIVATE PROPERTY AND PROMOTE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, last night Members on both sides of the 
aisle rose repeatedly and applauded the remarks of President Obama, who 
called upon the American people to show their resilience that they have 
on so many occasions in the past to rise above the difficulties that we 
face and to lead our country out of this serious economic crisis.
  However, today in the light of day, this Congress has taken a very, 
very different approach to try to solve those problems: the big 
government approach.
  Today, during the debate on the omnibus spending bill, I had planned 
to offer an amendment. My amendment would have protected the private 
property rights of citizens and also highlighted the philosophical 
differences between the Democrat majority and the Republicans. I would 
note that not a single amendment was made in order as a result of the 
vote on this nearly $500 billion spending package. Apparently, the 
majority believes that government knows best and the leadership of 
their party in this Congress are the only ones who know best how to 
dole out Americans' hard-earned money and property and they have no 
qualms about robbing Peter to pay Paul. Despite the lip service the 
majority gives about the spirit of the American people, the majority's 
policies clearly demonstrate that they believe something quite 
different, that the people cannot be trusted to make the best use of 
their own money and property nor can they be trusted to turn our 
economy around.
  Republicans actually believe in the American people, and they have 
put their policies where their mouths are. Republicans unabashedly 
believe that Americans know best how to control their own money and 
have advocated for targeted tax relief to individuals and small 
businesses to help the economy by putting money back into the hands of 
Americans.
  In addition, Republicans believe that the right of private property 
is a fundamental right that the founders of this Nation consciously 
sought to protect from overly zealous government bureaucrats. The need 
for private property protections is especially important in trying 
times like these when politicians get the idea that they know best the 
uses for Americans' money and property.
  I have sponsored legislation to protect private property from 
aggressive government use of eminent domain powers, and that is what 
the amendment I offered at the Rules Committee to the omnibus spending 
measure would have done. My amendment would have prevented funds in 
this gigantic spending bill from being used to seize private property 
from one person to give to another. This seems simple enough, but the 
majority decided to block this amendment, which would have prevented 
the use of any of the funds in this massive nearly $500 billion 
spending measure from being used for that purpose, to take people's 
property for private economic development purposes. But the majority 
decided to block the amendment and not allow a vote on the House floor. 
In fact, the vote to stifle debate on this amendment occurred on a 
purely partisan basis in the Rules Committee.
  It seems clear that the majority's solution to the current economic 
crisis is to spend other people's money. The truth is that we are 
beginning to see the results that this laboratory of big government 
spending is producing, and it is no surprise that the results are 
dismal. The government simply cannot operate as efficiently nor adapt 
as quickly as individuals and entrepreneurs.
  The likely response by the government to its own failure will be more 
spending, as is evident from the trillion dollar stimulus package that 
Congress passed 2 weeks ago as well as the nearly half trillion dollar 
omnibus spending bill we voted on today. There is no end in sight to 
the unprecedented levels of spending we are witnessing, and that is 
precisely why we should draw a very clear line now.
  House Republicans believe that instead of spending ease, we need a 
spending freeze. We may now see a budget deficit of $3 trillion this 
year alone. That's $3 trillion. Divide that by the 300 million people 
in the United States, and it's nearly $10,000 for each person in the 
country that the government will spend more than the government will 
take in, $10,000 per person more that will be spent on all these 
massive government programs than the government will take in. This is 
beyond unacceptable. We need reform, and it is clear that Congress must 
have this reform forced upon it.
  That's why over 160 bipartisan cosponsors have joined me in an 
attempt to force the Federal Government to rein in spending and 
eliminate the deficit by amending the Constitution to require it. 
Earlier this year I introduced a balanced budget constitutional 
amendment, House Joint Resolution 1. This legislation has already 
garnered over 160 bipartisan cosponsors, and it requires that total 
Federal outlays cannot exceed total revenues. We'd have 5 years to 
bring this into line.
  It is time we started the process of reforming the way this 
government spends money.
  This is a simple concept but one that is lost on a congress 
determined to put political considerations above the common good. 
Simply put, this constitutional amendment would bind the hands of 
congress by cutting up its credit cards.
  The time to act is now, and if President Obama is serious about his 
call to rein in spending, then he should join in our call for a 
balanced budget constitutional amendment to force the Federal 
Government to do so.

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