The Enumerated Powers Act

[eric_t12]

Quote of the Day: "Ideas and images in men’s minds are the invisible powers that govern them."
-- Hans Sennholz

Subject: Great news on the "Enumerated Powers Act"

The "Enumerated Powers Act" (H.R. 1359) would compel Congress to identify their Constitutional authority for every law they pass. It wouldn't stop them from passing bad laws, but it sure would highlight the fact that most of what they do has no Constitutional authority at all.

We pretty much know what they would do. They would have to invoke the so-called "general welfare clause," which is really just the preamble to the Constitution, or the "commerce clause," which was really intended to foster free trade between the states. It would become very embarrassing very quickly, and we could pound them about it constantly.

When we last reported to you the "Enumerated Powers Act" had 47 co-sponsors in the House. Well, now it has 52. But there's even better news . . .

Senator Tom Coburn introduced a Senate version (S. 3159) on June 19th, and 22 out of 100 Senators have already signed-on as co-sponsors. This is an incredible level of support that has come about very quickly.

Why are so many politicians sponsoring legislation that would serve to cast Congress in a poor light?

One possibility is that lots of them really would like to stick closer to the Constitution, but feel constrained by the Congressional leadership and the perverse incentives by which Congress operates. We're not saying this excuses their un-constitutional votes, but it could explain some of them.

That's why we've crafted proposals such as the "Read the Bills Act," the "One Subject at a Time Act," and the "Write the Laws Act." If we could just change the incentives by which Congress operates, we could also change the outcome. The "Enumerated Powers Act" could be a small but important part of this.

Another possibility might be because you've been asking them to do so! So here's what we need to do now . . .

* If your Rep. or one or more of your Senators is a co-sponsor, please thank them (we've provided a list of co-sponsors below my signature).
* If one or more of your elected representatives is not on the list, ask them to please become a co-sponsor

You can send your message here.