Political Quotes

“I rise in support of H.R. 992, the Tucker Act Shuffle Relief Act. This bill would simplify the court procedures when a case is brought by a private property owner to protect their legal and civil rights as guaranteed in the 5th amendment of the United States Constitution. This is a bill that is sorely needed. As chairman of the Committee on Resources, we have documented in our hearings the many cases where governments assert the right to set aside private lands for the protection of wildlife. When a landowner wants to sell land and the government pays for the land, that is legal and an acceptable manner for the government to protect wildlife. However, as is happening more frequently, the government sometimes finds it inconvenient to find the funds to buy the land, so they designate it as habitat for an endangered species. When that happens, landowners find that they cannot use their land. In the last two years, under extreme pressure from the Republican Congress, the government is beginning a process to allow landowners to use land designated as habitat, but only at a very high cost to landowners. When landowners cannot afford to go to court to protect their legal and civil rights, the government can use pressure to take the land from the landowner. We need to give landowners a more level playing field. We need to insure that going to court is not so expensive that only the biggest and richest landowners can afford to protect their rights.”