[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 2 (Thursday, January 6, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           By Mr. AKIN:
       H.R. 197.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution 
     provides, ``. . . nor shall private property be taken for 
     public use, without just compensation.'' The United States 
     Constitution, Article I, Sec. 8, cl. 1, vests Congress with 
     the exclusive power ``to pay the Debts . . . of the United 
     States.'' The Constitution, thus, grants to Congress the 
     exclusive power and authority to define the jurisdiction of 
     the Court of Federal Claims and ``the power to waive the res 
     judicata effect of a prior judgment entered in the 
     Government's favor on a claim against the United States. . . 
     . Congress may recognize its obligation to pay a moral debt 
     not only by direct appropriation, but also by waiving an 
     otherwise valid defense to a legal claim against the United 
     States'' United States v. Sioux Nation, 448 U.S. 371, 397 
     (1980) citing, Cherokee Nation v. United States, 270 U.S. 476 
     (1926) and United States v. Realty, Co. 163 U.S. 427 (1896).