[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 74 (Thursday, May 14, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H2963-H2964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Reed) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to highlight and address, 
hopefully, an issue that needs to be held in check here in Washington, 
D.C.
  Mr. Speaker, our office has been contacted numerous times from 
individuals across the Nation about attacks on private property rights 
by Big Government. Big Government continues to increasingly address and 
impact private property rights day in and day out.
  We have heard stories of family farmers, people like Neil Vitale in 
my district, in western New York, who has been farming his land on the 
Pennsylvania border for years and years and years. Just yesterday, our 
Governor in the great State of New York banned the development of 
natural gas by banning hydraulic fracturing across the State of New 
York.
  How does that impact Mr. Vitale? Mr. Vitale was going to use the 
resources of the property rights represented in the natural gas mineral 
rights to the farm that he has taken

[[Page H2964]]

care of for so many years in order to take care of the bills for him, 
his family, and his family farm, but now, that right has been lost 
because government action has taken that right away from Mr. Vitale.
  There is Bob Brace in Pennsylvania, who was ordered by the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the EPA to stop 
farming 30 acres of his land as they were determining it to be a 
wetland.
  Mr. Brace has been farming that land for years. He had to go through 
court. He went to the U.S. district court, and they said he is okay. He 
can keep farming the land.
  That wasn't enough for Big Government. They took it up to the court 
of appeals, and ultimately, the court ordered that Mr. Brace had to 
stop farming that 30 acres and pay a $10,000 fine and also hundreds of 
thousands of dollars in order to restore that property to the property 
that he has been using in his family for generations. When Mr. Brace 
tried to go to court to seek compensation for that right that was taken 
away, the court said: No, you don't have a right here.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, that is against my fundamental belief in this 
country of private property rights and freedom. In the Fifth Amendment 
to the United States Constitution, it says that the government can act 
and it can take action, but it must provide just compensation when it 
impacts people's private property.
  That is why here in Washington, D.C., I have taken two concrete 
actions to address this issue, Mr. Speaker. Recently, I started the 
Private Property Rights Caucus with my colleagues in Congress. This is 
a caucus that has been made up of 14 original members, spanning from 
Maine to California, to highlight this issue and to say to Big 
Government, enough is enough.
  I choose to stand with the individuals and the fundamental property 
rights that they have paid for, they have earned, that they take care 
of in maintaining their property, paying taxes on their property, and 
living the American Dream.
  I also introduced the Defense of Property Rights Act. The Defense of 
Property Rights Act is based on just a simple reading of the Fifth 
Amendment of the Constitution. It says just that, if you take action as 
Big Government has done, Big Government will have to take into 
consideration the impact on private property rights.
  If private property rights are taken, we clarify the ability of 
individuals to go and follow the Constitution and at least get 
compensation from the government for taking those private property 
rights away from these individuals.
  Mr. Speaker, these are commonsense, simple principles that I think my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle can join with me and say that is 
only fair because, if you really care about our fellow Americans, when 
their property rights are taken away because of Big Government action, 
we should at least say to them: we will stand with you as individuals 
and as Americans who believe in the fundamental principles of freedom 
and of private property rights, and we will at least get you some sort 
of compensation for the injury that you have suffered.
  As a result of that, I urge my colleagues to join the caucus, support 
the Defense of Property Rights Act, and join me in highlighting this 
issue so that we can say enough is enough.
  It is time to stand with our individuals, the constituents that we 
represent here in Washington, D.C., rather than the interests of Big 
Government and Big Government on all levels, Federal, State, and local.

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