[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 153 (Thursday, September 13, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H8177-H8178]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CELEBRATING CONSTITUTION DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Poe of Texas). The Chair recognizes the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in celebration of Constitution 
Day this upcoming week.
  On September 17, 231 years ago, 39 patriots signed their names to a 
document that changed the course of history. This document chartered a 
lasting experiment in democracy and put our Nation on the path to 
becoming

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the world's strongest and greatest in the history of the world.
  Since 1789, the Constitution has served as our country's legal 
foundation. Its wisdom is timeless, and just as George Washington 
called the Constitution the guide he would never abandon, we should not 
abandon the brilliance of our Founders' intent.
  The Constitution establishes the United States of America as a nation 
of laws where the government derives its limited powers from ``We the 
People,'' the consenting governed. Those words, I believe, Mr. Speaker, 
are the most important words outside our Bible.
  Thanks to the foresight of the Constitution's Framers and their 
understanding of government overreach and human nature, we have an 
abiding document that checks the power of the Federal Government and 
protects the rights of individual citizens.
  What has happened with our government, though, is that it has 
expanded in such a manner that it flips the Constitution on its head. 
Let's take a look at Articles I through III, which outline the powers 
of each branch of government.
  In this pocket copy of the Constitution, Article I is eight pages; 
but it is, by far, the longest of the articles, detailing the powers of 
the Congress.
  Article II is only three pages, outlining the powers of the executive 
branch.
  Article III is only a half page and establishes the limited powers of 
the judicial branch.
  Now, what has happened is that the relative power of each branch is 
completely inverted. The power to write the law and thereby represent 
the will of the people has been diminished by both the executive and 
judicial branches.
  The judicial branch seeks to write the law through its power of 
interpretation in setting precedent. The judicial branch has become an 
instrument for activists to pass agendas that could not be accomplished 
by passing laws in Congress because they lacked the support of the 
majority of people in the country.
  Rather than serving as the least powerful branch of government that 
acts as a check, the judicial branch has taken the power delegated to 
Congress and become a much more powerful branch than ever intended.
  The executive branch has promulgated rules which have the force of 
law and have circumvented the lawmaking process of Article I, thwarting 
again the grand design of the Constitution.
  These trends must stop and the plan of the Constitution reasserted. 
The Constitution is genius in its brevity, in its endurance, and in its 
forethought to limit and separate the governing powers established 
therein. It is an honor and a sacred duty for me to protect and uphold 
the Constitution in representing the people of the Fifth District here 
in this Congress.

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