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 »

Posted at 12:00am on Jan. 17, 2008 Senator DeMint's response to the Coburn endorsement

By AcademicElephant

From the diaries, by Erick.

Staunch Romney supporter Jim DeMint sent out the following email today:

Today, Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) issued the following statement upon learning the news that Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) endorsed John McCain for President in Greenville, South Carolina this morning. Senator DeMint has endorsed Governor Mitt Romney for President.

"Illegal immigration and tax relief may not be big issues in Oklahoma, but they are here. Thankfully the people of South Carolina will decide for themselves who will stop illegal immigration and rebuild our economy."

This is getting to be something of a game of inside-the-senate baseball, but the Coburn-DeMint split is a pretty strong indicator to me that we're still far from a "consensus" candidate.

Posted in 2008 | Jim DeMint | John McCain | Mitt Romney | Tom Coburn — Comments (38) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:27pm on Dec. 12, 2007 Senator Trainwreck (R, OK)

The best endorsement RedState ever made

By krempasky

And not by a little, either - Tom Coburn proves himself the most effective (and by no coincidence, least-compromising) member of the United States Senate. This Bloomberg article shows EXACTLY why we call him what we do. And trust me, this is about as polite as he gets:

In the final weeks of the session, lawmakers try to save time by passing many bills without voting -- which requires unanimous consent from the entire body. Coburn has warned his colleagues he will automatically block any legislation that increases spending.

In a letter to his colleagues, he advised them ``to contact me as soon as possible so I have sufficient time to read and review your bills'' so ``we can work out any differences.''

And by "work out any differences", you can imagine him to say, "I can beat you about the head and shoulders with this chair I have here."

Posted in Republicans | Tom Coburn — Comments (12)/ Email this page » / Read More »