The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“FEDERAL BUDGET NEEDS TO MEET CONSTITUTIONAL MUSTER” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1632-H1633 on April 6, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
FEDERAL BUDGET NEEDS TO MEET CONSTITUTIONAL MUSTER
Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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, I commend my colleague from Utah who just spoke previously, a fellow member of the Congressional Constitutional Caucus, who had indicated that we come to this floor on a regular basis to address what the Founding Fathers intended with the American public and the other Members of this body, their intention for the framework of the Constitution and the framework of the government of the various levels.
James Madison stated in Federalist Papers No. 45 that the role of the Federal Government is limited and defined, whereas that of the States and the people, their powers are broad and numerous.
To remind this body, the caucus' function primarily is to focus upon the 10th amendment to the Constitution, which in essence says that all powers not specifically delegated to the Federal Government are retained by the States and the people respectively.
When you read that and when you think about that, it is really pretty simple what the founders were trying to do there. And when the Constitution was ratified in 1787, they probably thought it was pretty simple, too. They thought they had probably in place a plan that would be existing for future generations would understand that the role of the Federal Government would be limited, that the sovereignty of the States and of the people would be respected. They probably thought to themselves that there is probably no way that they could have written it even more clearly than they did; that future Congresses should follow suit, should be ones to limit what the Federal Government does, and to retain to the people and the States what their responsibilities are.
Unfortunately, if you simply look out any of the windows of this building on this growing city that we have before us in Washington, D.C., you see representative of what is a growing Federal Government in all facets of our life. I am sure that our founding fathers would be disappointed in the largesse of the government, the excessive spending, the number of line items that is now in the budget. As a matter of fact, the budget is something that we were just debating and discussing on the floor of this House for a number of hours. I serve on the Budget Committee and have the opportunity to discuss it there as well.
What would our Founding Fathers think if they were to see our spending levels today? Would they ask the question that I think we all should be asking: Is it inconsistent the size and scope that the government has grown to today? Is it inconsistent in the nature of the spending that the government has grown to today?
If the Founding Fathers were with us today, I think they would give us a resounding no to what we are doing. They would say that it is inconsistent, that we have grown too large.
But we are all leaving here now and going back to our districts. Many Members will be going back and using this time to get involved with the media. We are actually in a 24/7 media cycle in this country now with the advent of all the communications that we have, whether it is in press and press releases or whether it is going on the radio or TV or e-mail. Many Members use this as an opportunity simply to go back to their district and to brag about all the money that the Federal Government is spending, all the new areas that they are enveloping as far as their responsibilities, just as the one that the gentleman from Utah was just talking about as far as the delineation of wetlands and how it impacts upon the people back at home.
Maybe this is exactly what our Founding Fathers feared, that we have grown so far apart from where the money comes from and where it is spent. Their goal was that the money should be spent closest to the people. That way, the people would have the greatest voice in how it was going to be spent. Unfortunately, we have just the opposite today. The inverse is true instead.
Let me just give you a couple examples that come to mind. Think about your local board of education and the schooling. Parents know who their teachers are, parents know who the principals are, parents know who the board of education is in their town that run their schools. But do parents know who the bureaucrats are down here in Washington, D.C. that now control education dollars that go back to those schools? People back at home know about the pothole in their front streets, people back at home know the name of their local mayor who may be responsible for making sure that street is paved. But do people know who the bureaucrats are in the U.S. Department of Transportation who are responsible for the transportation dollars that may or may not get back to their town to fix their potholes, but may instead go to someplace as the infamous bridge to nowhere?
Maybe this is exactly what our Founding Fathers were thinking of when they were looking at a government so far away across a broad ocean in England, and realizing that that English government was no longer connected to our government here, and so that is why they put the limits on it that they did.
We could go down with other examples, with the growing deficit that we have today, with the subpar service that we have in such agencies as FEMA, and ad infinitum as far as this goes, as far as the overgrowth and the problems that they have.
I just simply ask that our Members do this, and I think that the American public should be asking that their Members do as well: Is what we do the best for the schools? Best for medicine? Best for care best? For bridges? Best for all other services? Is it in line with what our constitutional framework says and what our Founding Fathers intended?
____________________
