[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 104 (Thursday, July 12, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H4863-H4864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           By Mrs. LUMMIS:
       H.R. 6113.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2
       The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all 
     needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or 
     other Property belonging to the United States; and

[[Page H4864]]

     nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to 
     Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any 
     particular State.
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 1
       The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, 
     Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for 
     the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; 
     but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform 
     throughout the United States.
       The abandoned mine land fund is a tax on coal produced, in 
     part, on federal lands. Both the tax, and its distribution 
     were created pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and 
     Reclamation Act of 1977, presumably with the Constitutional 
     authority to tax, raise revenue, and spend that revenue under 
     Article I, Section 8, Clause 1. This legislation seeks to 
     repeal a section of that bill dealing with the distribution 
     of AML funds. While the Constitution gives no explicit 
     authority to repeal, it can be inferred that what Congress 
     has the Constitutional authority to create, it can also 
     repeal.