[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18544]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2100
          CONGRESSIONAL CONSTITUTION CAUCUS CONSTITUTION HOUR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Schmidt). 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, we come to the floor tonight 
for our weekly Congressional Constitution Caucus Constitution Hour to 
honor the annual Constitution Day, September 17. September 17 marks the 
anniversary of the signing of our founding legal document, the U.S. 
Constitution.
  On September 17, 1787, 39 revolutionary and visionary Founding 
Fathers changed the course of history and this country and the world, 
securing liberties and freedoms that centuries of civilization had only 
dreamed of before and that democracies around the world have tried to 
emulate ever since. I encourage all of my colleagues to use this 
occasion to remind us all and all Americans of the true intent of the 
U.S. Constitution and all the rights and the liberties that are 
guaranteed to them when our government was first formed. Today more 
than ever before these freedoms are too often encroached upon by every 
branch of government.
  Unfortunately, for most Americans, the Constitution is nothing more 
than a historical document, really, too often cited, and cited 
inaccurately, and nearly always greatly misunderstood.
  Still more unfortunate, this esteemed body and our Federal Government 
have lowered the standard of constitutional understanding and 
adherence, and so it is no wonder the general public has little 
interest or comprehension of the intent of our Nation's Founding 
Fathers. Just today, for example, if someone tuned in to see the 
discussion on C-SPAN of what was going on on the floor, the House was 
debating, as if, you might say, a school board was debating, for we 
were looking at legislation of how schools should be run with regard to 
their securities within their confines.
  Thomas Jefferson was once asked the question, why is it that the 
Federal Government does not regulate and promote schools throughout the 
country? And he answered the question by saying: Madam, we shall do so 
when the Constitution is amended to say that we have the right and 
constitutional power to do so. But until that time, we shall not.
  Here in the House floor today, unfortunately, we were doing just 
that, acting as if this was one large super-school board for the entire 
50 States of this country.
  But we were happy to come to the floor, along with my colleague from 
Utah, earlier this evening and other members of the caucus to help 
reorient the conversation to the original beliefs of our Founding 
Fathers and purposes of our founding documents. I think we have become 
a society that has begun to take for granted our systems of self-
government and our liberties and freedoms. You know, gone are the days 
of the tyrannical rulers that inspired patriots to dump tea in the 
Boston Harbor or to compel Patrick Henry to cry out, ``Give me liberty 
or give me death,'' or motivated such important luminaries as General 
George Washington, who successfully led a patchwork of army of little 
resources and even less hope to take up arms against one of the 
mightiest armies in the world for their freedom.
  As societies around the world are currently struggling to establish 
or maintain democracy as the true model of self-government, let us not 
forget the many rights that we possess and the single document that 
protects them.
  So as we celebrate the anniversary of our signing of our Nation's 
most significant legal document, let us each and every one of us try to 
better familiarize ourselves with it. Highlighting and understanding 
what the Constitution actually says; what the intent of the authors 
actually was, and how it is now interpreted, stretched, or ignored will 
empower the public, like our forefathers once did, to stand up for 
their innate rights and to resist the growth of government at every 
level.
  You see, Mr. Speaker, it is easy to let our rights slip away, but 
tremendously difficult to get them back ever again. The best weapons 
that we have against either of those things ever happening is to arm 
ourselves with the knowledge found in the United States Constitution.
  And so I conclude as I had once before on this floor, to encourage 
this House to adopt legislation that is pending right now called the 
AMERICA Act, which is simply asking every Member of this body to on a 
yearly basis to simply read the Constitution, and their staffs as well. 
Let us start in this body to have an understanding of the Constitution 
and to share that belief with the American public as well

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