1998 Ron Paul 24:1
Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition
to S. 419, yet another circumvention of the
enumerated powers clause and tenth amendment
by this 105th Congress in its continued
obliteration of what remains of our national
government of limited powers.
1998 Ron Paul 24:2
For most of the past thirty years, I have
worked as physician specializing in obstetrics. In so doing, I delivered more than 4,000 infants. Despite what I believe to be a somewhat
unique insight on the topic of birth defect
prevention, today, I address the house as a
Congressman rather than as a physician.
1998 Ron Paul 24:3
As a Congressman, I have repeatedly come
to the house floor to denounce the further expansion
of the federal government into areas
ranging from “toilet-tank-size mandates” to
“public housing pet size;” areas, that is, where
no enumerated power exists and the tenth
amendment reserves to state governments
and private citizens the exclusive jurisdiction
over such matters. My visits to the floor have
not gone uncontested — proponents of an enlarged
federal government and more government
spending have justified their pet spending
and expansionist projects by distorting the
meaning of the “necessary and proper” and
“common defense and general welfare”
clauses to encompass the constitutionally illegitimate
activities they advocate. Even the Export-Import
Bank and Overseas Private Investment
Corporation during Foreign Operations
Appropriations debate were constitutionally
“justified” by the express power to “coin
money and regulate the value thereof”? In
other words, where money exists, credit exists
— where credit exists, loans exist — where
loans exist, defaulters exist — and from this,
the federal government has a duty to bail-out
(at taxpayer expense) politically connected
corporations who make bad loans in
political-risk-laden venues?
1998 Ron Paul 24:4
In the Federalist Papers, Madison and Hamilton
strongly denied such views with respect
to the necessary and proper clause. Madison
was similarly emphatic that the “defense and
welfare” clause did not expand the enumerated
powers granted to Congress. To the extent
these clauses encompass the enumerated
powers (rather than merely serve as their preamble),
one must ask why then the federal
powers were, in fact, enumerated in Article
One, Section 8.
1998 Ron Paul 24:5
Chiefly to resolve ambiguities about the national
powers, the tenth amendment, proposed
as part of the Bill of Rights by the Federalist-controlled first
Congress, was added, declaring
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.” According
to constitutional scholar Bernard Siegan,
University of San Diego College of Law, the
Constitution might never have been ratified
had the Federalists’ representations in this regard
not been accepted by a portion of the
public. Siegan also reminds us that the Framers
rejected the notion of empowering the national
government to grant charters of incorporation;
establish seminaries for the promotion
of agriculture, commerce, trades, and manufactures;
regulate stages on post roads; establish
universities; encourage by premiums and
provisions, the advancement of useful knowledge;
and opening and establishing canals. Each notion was introduced during the convention
and voted down or died in committee.
1998 Ron Paul 24:6
Jefferson, in one of his most famous remarks,
when addressing the issue of whether
to grant a federal charter to a mining business,
recognized below the slippery slope of a
lax interpretation of the “necessary and proper”
clause:
1998 Ron Paul 24:7
Congress are [sic] authorized to defend the
nation. Ships are necessary for defense, copper
is necessary for ships; mines, necessary
for copper; a company necessary to work the
mines; and who can doubt this reasoning who
has ever played at “This is the House that
Jack Built”? under such a process of filiation
of the necessities the sweeping clause
makes clean work. [1 c. Warren, The Supreme
Court United States History 501 (Rev. ed. 1926]
1998 Ron Paul 24:8
Cleary, while engaging in such congressional
activism makes “clean work,” it also
makes for an oppressive national government
involved in every aspect of its citizens’ lives. Remember that in engaging in such activism,
the next liberty upon which the Congress infringes,
may be your own.
1998 Ron Paul 24:9
I, for one, am uninterested in further catapulting
this country down this “road to serfdom”
albeit a road paved with the good intentions
of, in this case, “preventing birth defects”. If this matter is so vital that it can only
be done via the power of the federal government,
then I suggest that members of the
House convince their constituents of this and
amend the constitution accordingly. I, despite
my extensive work as an obstetrician, remain
unconvinced. A volunteer group, private charity,
hospital trade association, or university
could certainly, in this age of advanced computer
technology, maintain a database necessary
to adequately address the information
needs of those hoping to advance the cause
of birth defect reduction. This, I believe would
be a solution compatible with the framer’s notion
of a national government of limited powers.
1998 Ron Paul 24:10
For these reasons I oppose S. 419, the
Birth Defects Prevention Act of 1997.
Notes:
1998 Ron Paul Chapter 24
The text of this chapter was inserted into CongressionalRecord as an extention of remarks and was not spoken on the House floor.
1998 Ron Paul 24:1 tenth amendment probably should be capitalized: Tenth Amendment.
1998 Ron Paul 24:2 house probably should have been capitalized: House.
1998 Ron Paul 24:3 house probably should have been capitalized: House.
tenth amendment probably should have been capitalized: Tenth Amendment.
1998 Ron Paul 24:4 “defense and welfare” clause probably should have been written as a proper noun: defense and Welfare Clause.
1998 Ron Paul 24:5 tenth amendment probably should be capitalized: Tenth Amendment.
Ron Paul, quoting the Tenth Amendment, writes constitution where the Tenth Amendment uses the capitalized form, Constitution.
1998 Ron Paul 24:6 “necessary and proper” clause probably should have been written as a proper noun: Necessary and Proper Clause or by its other name, Elastic Clause.
1998 Ron Paul 24:7
Here, (Rev. ed. 1926 lacks a closing
parenthesis in the Congressional Record.
