Redstate

Posted at 1:32pm on Jun. 19, 2008 Enumerating the Power of Congress

By Erick

John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) are at it again on behalf of constitutional principles.

On a blogger call this afternoon, they announced that they are introducing into the House and Senate the Enumerated Powers Act; a worthy piece of legislation that will cause Congress to slow down and think before passing legislation. Nonetheless, the legislation is fatally flawed because of the length of the bill. At only two pages, the rest of the Congress is going to spend the next year looking for the other three thousand pages before considering it.

But should the legislation make its way through the legislative process and get to the President, the nation would be better off.

Introduced several times over the past few years by Congressman Shadegg, but never in the Senate, the Enumerated Powers Act (H.B. 1359) would require Congress specify, in each piece of legislation, which one of its Article I, Section 8 powers the Congress is using to legitimize the law.

Right now, many people think Congress has near plenary power under the "general welfare" clause of Article I. However, as James Madison, the author of the constitution, made clear, "With respect to the words general welfare, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of [enumerated] powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators."

Likewise, even Thomas Jefferson noted that, "Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.

Right now the legislation has 52 co-sponsors in the House and 23 in the Senate, the most it has ever had. No Democrats have signed on.

The GOP would be wise to make this a red meat issue for the base.

You can see an overview of the legislation here. The text is here.

Posted in Arizona | Congress | Enumerated Powers | John Shadegg | Oklahoma | Tom Coburn — Comments (7)/ Email this page » / Read More »