[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24429]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             EMINENT DOMAIN

  (Mr. DOOLITTLE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, everyone remembers the schoolyard bully 
who pushed the smaller kids around and took their lunch money just 
because he was bigger and stronger. Bullying wasn't okay in elementary 
school and it isn't okay now, especially when it comes in the form of a 
U.S. Supreme Court decision.
  In Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court empowered the 
government to seize private property, including someone's own home or 
place of worship, and transfer it to another private owner as long as 
the transfer would provide an economic benefit to the community. Simply 
put, the Supreme Court has given government the broad power to seize 
private property for any use, so long as it generates tax revenue.
  Tomorrow, the House will take up H.R. 4128, the Private Property 
Rights Protection Act, in an attempt to prevent the abuses the Court 
has allowed by its decision in the Kelo case. The bill prohibits States 
and localities from receiving any Federal economic development funds if 
these entities abuse their power of eminent domain.
  This action is an appropriate use of Congress' spending power and 
will prevent homeowners, churches, and small businesses from being 
forced to give up their private property simply because it is not 
generating the maximum possible tax revenue.

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