The
third installment of our Member of the Week series continues with an issue
profile as discussed by the Congressman. Yesterday, we presented Rep. Jeff
Duncan's answers to five questions, including one about what aspect of
government he would reform.
His
response centered around the looking into federal agencies that are not
constitutional, and specifically mentioned the Department of Education, the
Department of Energy and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The
Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "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."
Those
who claim the Department of Education is Constitutional say that it promotes the general welfare of the United States, however, this phrase appears in the
preamble of the Constitution does not grant or prohibit power to Congress, that
is not its purpose. The preamble simply describes the Constitution and what the
document itself was designed to do, and is not actually a binding decree of the
Constitution.
The
Department of Education was founded using the preamble as the basis for its
Constitutionality, but due to what's stated above, it is clear that it is not.
Thomas Jefferson considered the federal government's involvement in education
to be unconstitutional. In 1862, James Buchanan warned that giving education to
Congress would create a vast and irresponsible authority. Both he and Jefferson
were right.
President
Obama requested a $48.8 billion budget for the
Department of Education, and an additional $28.6 for Pell Grants (both
increases from previous years) in his first 2012 budget. Despite all the
spending for education, test scores do not improve. Because of this failure of the
department, and its inherent unconstitutionality, it should be devolved back to
the states.
The
Department of Energy should suffer the same fate. Nowhere in the Constitution
does the federal government have the right to control a specific industry.
The elimination of this departmentwas something Ronald Reagan greatly
desired, but was unable to do with Democrats controlling Congress. The
department was created from components of existing agencies in 1977. By 1982,
the agency's budget has doubled. President Obama's 2011 budget request for the department was $28.4
billion, a 6.8% increase from 2010.
Now
remember, the Department of Energy is responsible for the crony loan program
which gave taxpayer dollars to companies like Solyndra, Beacon, Evergreen Solar
and many more which have all gone down the drain. This department, which has
been using taxpayer funds to invest in highly risky companies (I thought risky
investments was the reason the Occupiers hate Wall Street?) based solely on
political reasons is clear grounds for elimination.
The
NLRB...where to begin. This agency has been trying to bolster union support
since its inception. Union membership actually only totals about 9% of the
national workforce, yet this agency would prefer that be 100%. We've seen that
with their lawsuit against Boeing. They want Boeing to shut down a plant that
employs over 1000 people just because it's not unionized. House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) even agreed that
the government force the plant to shut down, but she would prefer it simply
become union.
Is
this kind of government overreach Constitutional? Remember, these are not the
only agencies that don't get their power from the Constitution, and are just a
small example of departments in our federal government that should not exist.
Comments
The limits of the US Federal
Government are included in the “enumerated powers” in the US Constitution and
the 10th Amendment in the US Bill of Rights. The process described as necessary to amend
the US Constitution includes that an Amendment authorizing new powers must be
ratified by the States. This has not been done, but needs to be done to repair
the damage Congress has done for over 100 years.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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