[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24749-24750]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

  (Mr. WESTMORELAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, Republicans are moving forward to 
protect one of the most foundational rights we cherish, the right to 
own private property. One of our great former Presidents, John Adams, 
said: ``Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.'' The 
first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court said: ``No power 
on Earth has a right to take our property from us without our 
consent.''
  We have seen our Supreme Court rule that property can be taken from 
one private owner and given to another. Republicans in Congress are 
taking action to fix this problem with legislation we will consider 
today on the House floor. Government should not and must not have the 
authority to take property away from private landowners for the sole 
sake of giving it to another private landowner.
  Madam Speaker, I applaud the efforts of the majority in bringing 
forward this important legislation and look forward to supporting it on 
the floor this afternoon.

[[Page 24750]]



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