[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13941-13942]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 THE NEED FOR THE RETURN OF FEDERALISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the 10th amendment states: 
``The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people.''
  These historic words, penned by our Founding Fathers, some of the 
most ingenious political minds the world has ever known, set forth an 
important principle: the Federal Government may exercise specific 
powers that are listed in the Constitution, and the States and the 
people may exercise all remaining powers.
  Unfortunately, as the authors of the Constitution have long since 
passed, so too have many of their ideals for our system of government, 
from an ever-expanding Federal Government that for decades has crept 
into many facets of once locally controlled areas, to a Federal 
judiciary that in many instances completely ignores the intent of 
federalism, all resulting in a Federal Government that has become 
wildly inefficient and a hemorrhaging bureaucracy.
  In an effort to draw attention to this nationally destructive trend, 
I have recently founded the Congressional States and Community Rights 
Caucus, which will be a forum to work to ensure that the Federal 
Government is operating under the intent of the 10th amendment of our 
Bill of Rights. I look forward to working with my like-minded 
colleagues who share the sentiment that the Federal Government has 
taken authority over too many areas from State governments and are 
operating them in an inefficient manner.

[[Page 13942]]

  This is not a new concept. It goes back over some last 10 years and 
even back further than that. Our Founders were very clear when 
establishing our system of government. They intended to set up a 
Republic of sovereign States capable of self-governing with a small 
central government with clearly defined, limited powers.
  Our Constitution must be thought of as a social contract between 
people and the government. We must think of the most important document 
as a trade where our forefathers gave up certain specific rights in 
exchange for limited services specified, most notably, for defense of 
the people and the Nation.

                              {time}  1815

  When we refer to federalism, we refer to only powers specifically 
listed in the Constitution are to be administered by the Federal 
Government. All others are to be left to the States, local government, 
or to the people themselves. James Madison wrote this in Federal paper 
No. 45: The powers delegated to the Federal Government are few and 
defined, he said. The powers reserved to the several States will extend 
to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern 
the lives, liberties and properties of the people, and the internal 
order, improvement and prosperity of the State.
  Of course, we know we have gone much further than this now. 
Throughout the last few generations especially, the intent of the 10th 
amendment of a limited government has been shredding away. Over the 
years in many areas, national crises and otherwise, many of the 
government's powers have grown on the Federal level, particularly in 
social service areas, through a centralized Federal Government.
  Limited government was a gift to the American people. More 
accurately, it was got by blood, sweat, and tears that were shed by our 
forefathers who sought to break away from their mother country, Great 
Britain, and also by subsequent generations who worked for this great 
experiment of personal liberty.
  There are those who support a big government, who have no faith in 
the people whatsoever to care for themselves, who feel a few should 
provide for the many. They believe that high taxes and high spending is 
the most efficient way to provide services. Of course, we know that 
history proves them not true. Those who support a big government might 
contend that those like myself are really antigovernment, but that is 
not true as well. Our Federal Government serves an important purpose, 
but our Nation is better off when that purpose is limited.
  Mr. Speaker, those who support federalism as I do, those who strictly 
adhere to the 10th amendment, know that a large, burdensome, 
bureaucratic government is not the most efficient way to get the 
services to the American people. You see, State taxpayers and Federal 
taxpayers are not two separate groups of people but they are 
individuals who are taxed twice.
  Think about that for a moment. Americans from all around the country 
send their money to Washington only for Washington to lose some of it, 
waste some it, and spend some of it on areas and ways that you and I 
might not agree with. In fact, you have taxpayers from one State who 
are subsidizing services for taxpayers in another State. For instance, 
in my State of New Jersey, I know that for every dollar that we send to 
Washington, we only receive back 54 cents from the Federal Government. 
That does not make sense to me and I know that is not fair.
  Our recent leaders have tried to right this position of our Federal 
Government back to where our Founding Fathers had it. In his first 
inaugural address in 1981, President Reagan said, ``It is my intention 
to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to 
demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the 
Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. 
All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not 
create the States; the States created the Federal Government.''
  In light of the looming fiscal crisis of our Federal budget and the 
domestic programs that are simply not reaching their intended goals, I 
believe it is imperative to highlight the need to return to a system 
intended under the reserve clause of the Constitution. I invite and 
encourage my colleagues to join the caucus and help us return control 
to those who know what is best, to the people. All of our constituents 
deserve the most efficient and effective government, a government in 
accord with our Constitution.

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