[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 38 (Friday, March 15, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H1548-H1549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           By Mr. GOSAR:
       H.R. 1216.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Sec. 8, Clause 17, which provides that Congress 
     has the power and authority to: ``exercise exclusive 
     Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not 
     exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular 
     States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of 
     the Government of the United States, and to exercise like 
     Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the 
     Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the 
     Erection

[[Page H1549]]

     of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful 
     Buildings.
       (Emphasis added). Thus, the Constitution's Places Clause 
     confers the express and exclusive constitutional authority to 
     Congress to manage Federal Property, including federally 
     owned property used for any ``needful'' government purpose. 
     The federal government's duty to raise and maintain a 
     military force subsumes a duty to maintain and take care of 
     its veterans from such military forces. Thus, a veterans' 
     center is a ``needful building'' to fulfill a core 
     constitutional duty, and thus Congress has the exclusive 
     authority to manage it and give it a name. James v. Dravo 
     Contracting Co., 302 U.S. 134, 143 (1937) (taking the 
     ``view'' that the phrase ``other needful buildings'' embraces 
     ``whatever structures are found to be necessary in the 
     performance of the functions of the federal government). For 
     these reasons, the bill seeking to name a veteran's center is 
     constitutionally permissible.