Jack Kingston: “Mr. Chairman, I think to understand the Calvert amendment, what we really need to do is go back to the basic philosophy…”

“Mr. Chairman, I think to understand the Calvert amendment, what we really need to do is go back to the basic philosophy of the bill, which is to say that the $5.4 trillion debt ridden national government is going to take $3 billion a year and give that to the State governments and other Federal government for land buying. Even though the State governments have a 70-billion surplus, we are going to take our money and give it to these cash-risk States. Now, what the Calvert amendment does say is, okay, even under that crazy logic, let us try to put some common sense in it and say that, under this any-willing-buyer clause, they need to make sure that it really means any willing buyer. Because the bill clearly says, or, if by act of Congress, Congress decides to buy something, it does not matter if they are willing or not, they are going to come after them. The Calvert amendment addresses that, number one. Number two, what it says is that the State governments are not governed by the any-willing-buyer provision. All the Calvert amendment says is that, since we are giving the money to the State governments and it is Federal money that they will be using to purchase this land, we are simply saying that they should have to go by the any-willing-buyer provision. This is a private property issue. This is a fundamental Constitutional right of Americans. This is a no-brainer. I do not think we should even have a vote on it.”