[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13600]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         EMINENT DOMAIN REFORM

  (Mr. GINGREY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the President 
for his recent executive order limiting the eminent domain powers of 
the Federal Government. This order is a significant step in the right 
direction.
  This executive order comes 1 year after the Supreme Court's narrowly 
decided Kelo decision which essentially gutted the private property 
protection of the fifth amendment. Thankfully, across the country, 
State and local governments have begun to pass legislation rolling back 
the tide of eminent domain abuse.
  In my home State of Georgia, the legislature recently passed and 
Governor Perdue signed significant eminent domain reform legislation to 
protect the rights of Georgia's citizens from the government wrecking 
ball.
  However, we in this Congress must do more; and, therefore, I call 
upon the Senate to take up and pass H.R. 4128, the Private Property 
Protection Act of 2005, which this House passed last November by a 
bipartisan and overwhelming vote.
  With the 4th of July approaching, let's declare that this land is the 
American people's land and not the government's.

                          ____________________