[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 142 (Wednesday, September 30, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H6713-H6714]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PROTECTING PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Reed) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, I have come to this floor numerous times to 
stand for a priority that I have committed myself to here as a Member 
of this Congress, and that is to stand up for individuals and protect 
the private property rights that our fellow American citizens enjoy in 
owning their properties, their homes, their family farms, and their 
other property that they have worked tirelessly to obtain.
  I care about defending the constitutional rights given to all 
Americans and the generations that will follow us in the future. I 
fundamentally believe, Mr. Speaker, the American citizens' land is 
their land; it is not our government's.
  Every day, Mr. Speaker, I am getting more and more input in our 
office about examples of Big Government taking people's property 
without just compensation and abusing the power of eminent domain. I 
have heard of family farms. I have heard of homes. I have heard of 
rights that have been squashed time and time by Big Government.
  And individuals have nowhere to go. They essentially have two 
choices, either roll over, submit to the government and take what the 
government gives them or they try to fight and they use up their own 
precious resources while they fight a Big Government that seems to have 
endless amounts of resources and time, Mr. Speaker, on their side.
  I want to put this in a personal perspective for my fellow Members 
and American citizens. This gentleman is a gentleman by the name of 
Charlie Birnbaum of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mr. Birnbaum is the son 
of immigrants who came to America after surviving the brutality of the 
Holocaust. His parents bought a home, raised a family, and passed that 
home on to Charlie. They lived and are living the American Dream.
  Mr. Speaker, this is that home. This is something where they have 
raised their family, enjoyed family memories, and where Mr. Birnbaum is 
living the American Dream and providing resources by teaching piano 
lessons out

[[Page H6714]]

of this home and renting portions of it to tenants to make ends meet.
  Since early 2014, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority of 
New Jersey wants to take this home and give it to an unknown entity. 
They don't even have a plan to redevelop this home. They just want his 
property. That is not right, Mr. Speaker. That is not the American way 
of life. That is not the American Government that I am going to allow 
to abuse this man's precious home.
  The solution is something that I have put together. The Defense of 
Property Rights Act is a piece of legislation that has come out of the 
Property Rights Caucus, working with my fellow Members from Maine to 
Alabama, to California, to stand up for private properties in America.
  I introduced the legislation in January. The Defense of Property 
Rights Act would stand with people like Charlie and say: What America 
and the Big Government mentality of today is doing is wrong, and there 
are Members in Washington, D.C. who are joining us in the fight to say 
no more. We will force through that legislation accountability. We will 
make sure that government thinks about what it is doing before it 
destroys Charlie's American Dream and the Charlies across the country. 
Because, if it can happen to Charlie, Mr. Speaker, it can happen to 
anyone.
  On my watch in Congress, I will do whatever I can to stand with those 
fellow American citizens and say: We are not going to let this happen.

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