[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE ENUMERATED POWERS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Shadegg) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHADEGG. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak of the importance of 
the 10th amendment and of a bill that I have introduced each Congress 
since the 104th Congress, the Enumerated Powers Act. I speak today as a 
member of the Constitution caucus, chaired by my colleague, Congressman 
Scott Garrett of New Jersey. It is a caucus that is dedicated and works 
tirelessly to illuminate the importance of the Constitution and of the 
10th amendment.
  The 10th amendment to the United States Constitution reads as 
follows: ``The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the 
States respectively, or to the people.''
  Let me emphasize that again. ``The powers not delegated to the United 
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are 
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.''
  What that means is that the Founding Fathers intended our national 
government to be a limited government, a government of limited powers 
that cannot expand its legislative authority into areas reserved to the 
states or to the people. As the final amendment in the 10 Bill of 
Rights, it is clear that the Constitution establishes a Federal 
Government of specifically enumerated and limited powers.
  For that reason, as I indicated, I have introduced, each year since I 
have been in this Congress, the Enumerated Powers Act. This bill would 
require that all pieces of legislation introduced in the Congress, by a 
Member of Congress, would have to contain a statement setting forth the 
specific constitutional authority granted by the Constitution to the 
U.S. Congress by which that piece of legislation was to be enacted. 
This measure would enforce a constant and ongoing re-examination of the 
role of our national government.
  The Enumerated Powers Act is simple. It is simply intended to require 
a scrutiny that we should look at what we enact and that, by doing so, 
we can slow the growth and reach of the Federal Government, and leave 
to the states or the people, those functions that were reserved to them 
by the Constitution.
  It will perform three most important functions.
  First, it would encourage Members of Congress to pause and reflect 
and to consider whether they propose a piece of legislation, whether it 
belongs at the Federal level in the allocation of powers under our U.S. 
Constitution, or properly belongs with the states or with the people.
  Second, it would function to force us to include a statement in the 
legislation explaining by what authority we are acting.
  And third, it would give the United States Supreme Court the ability 
to look at the constitutional justification for each piece of 
legislation, and if that constitutional justification did not stand up 
to scrutiny, the courts and the people would find it easier to hold the 
Congress accountable and to eliminate those acts which are beyond the 
scope of the Constitution.
  In 1787, when the Founding Fathers wrote our Constitution, they 
created a national government with great powers but limited powers, 
believing that granting specific, rather than general legislative power 
to the national government would be a central mechanism for protecting 
freedom while allowing us still to achieve the objectives of a national 
government. As a result, the Constitution gives the Federal Government 
only 18 specific enumerated powers, just 18 powers.
  For the largest part of our history, for the first 130 years, the 
Constitution served as a bulwark against excessive Federal regulation 
and against excessive all powerful Federal Government. Unfortunately, 
the restraint that Congresses demonstrated under that provision of the 
Constitution has largely been abandoned in the latter half of the 20th 
Century and now in the 21st Century.
  Beginning with the New Deal, modern Congresses have displayed a 
willingness to ignore the 10th amendment in order to greatly expand the 
Federal Government.
  Let me be clear. Virtually all the measures which go beyond the scope 
of the powers granted to the Federal Government by the 10th amendment 
are well-intentioned. But unfortunately, many of them are not 
authorized by the Constitution. The Federal Government has ignored the 
Constitution and expanded its authority into every aspect of human 
conduct, and quite sadly, it is not doing many of those things very 
well.
  The size and scope of the Federal Government has exploded, and there 
is a belief that the Federal Government can do anything. And yet, that 
is not what the Founding Fathers intended.
  For too long, the Federal Government has operated without 
constitutional restraint, blatantly ignoring the principles of 
federalism.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting a review and a 
criticism and an evaluation of the proper role of the Federal 
Government in order to empower the American people and to distribute 
power as the Constitution contemplated it.

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