[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3197-3199]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

  Pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives, the following statements are submitted regarding the 
specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the 
accompanying bill or joint resolution.

            By Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS:
        H.R. 891.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       This bill is enacted pursuant to Congress' legislative 
     powers under Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution. Under 
     this provision, Congress has the authority to regulate 
     ``commerce among the several states.''
           By Mr. CAMP:
       H.R. 892
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Clause 8, Section 8, of Article I of the Constitution.
            By Mr. DENT:
        H.R. 893.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
            By Mr. CONYERS:
        H.R. 894.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       This bill is enacted pursuant to the power granted to 
     Congress under Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United 
     States Constitution.
            By Mr. ROYCE:
        H.R. 895.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.
            By Mr. BURGESS:
        H.R. 896.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       The attached bill is constitutional under Article I, 
     Section 8, ``To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and 
     among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes''.
            By Mr. GRIMM:
        H.R. 897.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 3.
            By Mr. COSTELLO:
        H.R. 898.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2.
           By Mr. LANKFORD:
        H.R. 899.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 18: The Congress shall have 
     Power . . . to make all Laws

[[Page 3198]]

     which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into 
     Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested 
     by the Constitution in the Government of the United States, 
     or in any Department or Officer thereof.
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 1: The Congress shall have 
     Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, 
     to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and 
     general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts 
     and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
            By Mr. RUSH:
        H.R. 900.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the 
     several States, and with the Indian tribes. U.S. Const., Art. 
     I, Sec. 8, Cl. 3. The Interstate Commerce Clause serves as 
     the constitutional basis for this legislation. In 1984, the 
     Federal Trade Commission issued ``The Funeral Rule'' pursuant 
     to its authority under Sections 5 and 18 of the Federal Trade 
     Commission Act, which permits the FTC to promulgate trade 
     regulation rules that define with specificity unfair or 
     deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce. The 
     Funeral Rule applies only to funeral homes. Its primary 
     purposes are ``[t]o ensure that consumers receive information 
     necessary to make informed purchasing decisions, and to lower 
     existing barriers to price competition in the market for 
     funeral goods and services.'' The traditional marketplace for 
     funeral and burial goods and services has dramatically 
     evolved. Over the past 20 years, waves of cross-state funeral 
     homes & cemetery consolidations and combinations, increasing 
     cremation trends, challenging legal questions over 
     portability of death-care sales contracts and pre-need 
     insurance policies, and a significant rise in the number of 
     third- party sellers of death care goods and services now 
     warrant regulatory parity among the death care industry's 
     sectors. Accordingly, this legislation would expressly 
     authorize the FTC to promulgate and to enforce, along with 
     the States rules promoting competition and protecting 
     vulnerable consumers from severe economic and emotional 
     harms.
            By Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California:
        H.R. 901.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       This bill is enacted pursuant to Article I, Section 8, 
     Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States and Article 
     I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the Constitution of the United 
     States.
            By Ms. MATSUI:
        H.R. 902.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 3.
            By Mr. CALVERT:
        H.R. 903.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       The constitutional authority of Congress to enact this 
     legislation is provided by Article IV, Section 3 of the 
     United States Constitution, specifically Clause 2 (empowering 
     Congress to make rules and regulations respecting property 
     belonging to the people of the United States), Article I, 
     Section 8 of the United States Constitution, specifically 
     Clause 1 (relating to providing for the general welfare of 
     the United States) and Clause 18 (relating to the power to 
     make all laws necessary and proper for carrying out the 
     powers vested in Congress). Furthermore, this bill amends the 
     Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331), which 
     Congress previously enacted pursuant to similar authority.
            By Mr. SENSENBRENNER:
        H.R. 904.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.
            By Mr. WHITFIELD:
       H.R. 905.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, which grants Congress the 
     power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the 
     several States, and with the Indian tribes.
            By Mr. COHEN:
       H.R. 906.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 1.
            By Mrs. MALONEY:
       H.R. 907.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution.
       The Congress shall have Power * * * To regulate Commerce 
     with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with 
     the Indian Tribes.
            By Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania:
       H.R. 908.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Clause 3 of Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution.
            By Mr. NUNES:
       H.R. 909.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Clause 3 of Section 8 of Article I and Clause 2 of Section 
     3 of Article IV of the Constitution of the United States.
            By Mr. UPTON:
       H.R. 910.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Commerce Clause: Article I, Section 8, Clause 3.
            By Mr. BARROW:
       H.R. 911.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       U.S. Constitution; Article I, Section 8.
            By Ms. GRANGER:
       H.R. 912.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the United States 
     Constitution.
            By Mr. ADERHOLT:
       H.R. 913.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 3: To regulate Commerce with 
     foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the 
     Indian Tribes.
            By Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia:
       H.R. 914.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 18.
            By Mr. CUELLAR:
        H.R. 915.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       The Constitution including Article I, Section 8.
            By Mr. DENT:
        H.R. 916.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8.
            By Mr. FILNER:
        H.R. 917.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       The constitutional authority of Congress to enact this 
     legislation is provided by Article I, Section 8 of the United 
     States Constitution (Clauses 1, 3, and 18), which grant 
     Congress the power to provide for the general welfare of the 
     United States; to regulate Commerce among the several States; 
     and to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for 
     carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers.
           By Ms. FOXX:
        H.R. 918.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of, and the 16th Amendment 
     to, the United States Constitution.
            By Mr. FRANKS of Arizona:
        H.R. 919.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article 4, Section 3, Clause 2.
            By Mr. GOHMERT:
        H.R. 920.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       This bill is enacted pursuant to the power granted to 
     Congress under Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, ``No Money 
     shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of 
     Appropriations made by Law.'' Furthermore, under Article I, 
     Section 8, Clause 18, ``Congress shall have the power . . . 
     [t]o make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for 
     carrying into Execution . . . all other Powers vested by this 
     Constitution in the Government of the United States.'' It is 
     within Congress' power to regulate the appropriation of money 
     from the Treasury and this bill is ``necessary'' to stop the 
     automatic increase in national spending.
            By Mr. GOHMERT:
        H.R. 921.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Under Article I, Section 8, Clause 18: The Congress shall 
     have Power . . . To make all Laws which shall be necessary 
     and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, 
     and all other Powers vested by the Constitution in the 
     Government of the United States, or in any Department or 
     Officer thereof.
       Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: No Money shall be drawn 
     from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made 
     by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts 
     and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from 
     time to time.
            By Mr. GOSAR:
        H.R. 922.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       It was explained by James Madison, in Federalist No. 45, 
     that the ``powers delegated to Congress in the proposed 
     constitution to the federal government are few and defined.'' 
     Mindful of this admonition, this proposed bill comports with 
     several enumerated powers granted to Congress. Congress has 
     the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the 
     following: Article I, Section 8, Clause 17: The Congress 
     shall have the power ``[t]o exercise exclusive Legislation in 
     all Cases whatsoever, . . . to exercise like Authority over 
     all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the 
     State in which the

[[Page 3199]]

     Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, 
     Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings.'' Thus, 
     lands purchased and held by the Federal Government, are 
     within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Government 
     for purposes of management, control, disposition and if 
     necessary, resolution of issues arising out of such land use. 
     That being said, nothing herein shall be deemed an expansion 
     of, or resolution of, the federal government's power to 
     purchase and then hold land indefinitely and in substantial 
     percentages as known in the Western States if not ``needful'' 
     for federal purposes.
       Further, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Collins v. Yosemite 
     Park & Curry Co., 304 U.S. 518, 529 (U.S. 1938), reasoned 
     that Clause 17 ``is not the sole authority'' for either 
     property acquisition or management, as ``[i]t has never been 
     necessary heretofore for this Court to determine whether or 
     not the United States has the constitutional right to 
     exercise jurisdiction over territory, within the geographical 
     limits of a State, acquired for purposes other than those 
     specified in Clause 17.''
       Further, the Constitution's Property Clause, Article IV, 
     Sec. 3, Clause 2, provides that ``Congress shall have the 
     power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and 
     Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property 
     belonging to the United States.'' This Management Clause as 
     currently understood conveys the express authority to 
     Congress to address issues and resolve matters involving 
     Federal Land. Additionally, Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, 
     further provides a constitutional basis for this Act as it 
     conveys the power to Congress to implement its enumerated 
     powers (but this clause cannot expand those powers) and 
     ``make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper'' for 
     executing and implementing enumerated powers.
            By Mr. HASTINGS of Florida:
        H.R. 923.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution.
            By Mr. HEINRICH:
       H.R. 924.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 1.
            By Mr. KILDEE:
        H.R. 925.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, The Commerce Clause, and 
     Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18, the Necessary and Proper 
     Clause.
           By Mr. KING of New York:
       H.R. 926.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 1: The Congress shall have 
     Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, 
     to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and 
     general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts 
     and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
           By Mr. MARKEY:
       H.R. 927.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       The Constitutional authority of Congress to enact this 
     legislation is provided by Article IV, Section 3, which 
     provides that Congress shall have the power to dispose of and 
     make all needful. Rules and Regulations respecting the 
     Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.
           By Mr. McNERNEY:
       H.R. 928.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution.
           By Mr. NADLER:
       H.R. 929.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clauses 1, 3 and 18.
           By Ms. PINGREE of Maine:
       H.R. 930.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 14: To make Rules for the 
     Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
       As necessary and proper Article I Section 8, Clause 18: To 
     make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for 
     carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other 
     Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the 
     United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
       As necessary and proper, Article I Section 8, Clause 1: The 
     Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, 
     Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the 
     common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but 
     all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout 
     the United States.
           By Mr. POE of Texas:
       H.R. 931.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Clause 18 of Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution 
     which states that Congress has the power ``to make all laws 
     which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into 
     Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested 
     by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, 
     or in any Department or Officer thereof.''
           By Mr. ROONEY:
       H.R. 932.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 4: To establish a uniform rule 
     of Naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of 
     Bankruptcies throughout the United States.
           By Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD:
       H.R. 933.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 4.
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 18.
           By Mr. SESSIONS:
       H.R. 934.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 1.
           By Mr. SOUTHERLAND:
       H.R. 935.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       The Social Security Act has been upheld under the power to 
     tax and spending under Article I Section 8, Clause 1 of the 
     U.S. Constitution.
           Mr. WELCH:
       H.R. 936.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 18: The Congress shall have 
     Power . . . To make all Laws which shall be necessary and 
     proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and 
     all other Powers vested by the Constitution in the Government 
     of the United States, or in any Department or Officer 
     thereof.
           By Mr. BROUN of Georgia:
       H.J. Res. 45.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article V of the Constitution. The Congress, whenever two 
     thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose 
     amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of 
     the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall 
     call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either 
     case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of 
     this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three 
     fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three 
     fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification 
     may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment 
     which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight 
     hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and 
     fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and 
     that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its 
     equal suffrage in the Senate.
           By Mr. GRIFFITH of Virginia:
       H.J. Res. 46.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       This bill is enacted pursuant to Article V of the United 
     States Constitution.