Paul Coverdell: “I rise today to speak on a concurrent resolution I have submitted, the subject of which is important not only to my…”

“I rise today to speak on a concurrent resolution I have submitted, the subject of which is important not only to my constituents, but to anyone who stands by the Constitution of the United States. Ironically, while in England last May President Clinton, with little fanfare or media attention, issued Executive Order (EO) 13083. EO 13083 in both its letter and intent seeks to give executive departments and agencies greater preemptive authority over State and local law in the administration of Executive Branch policies. Ultimately this action is an attempt by the President to promote an agenda by circumventing Congress while subverting the Constitution and the principles of a limited federal government that the Framers were so careful to express in writing this document. Mr. President, as members of Congress we have each taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. The President has done the same. And as we all know, the Constitution is our nation's most important document. It establishes the way our government works; it establishes the freedoms American citizens enjoy; and it provides for protections of those freedoms. The Framers understood that individual freedom and centralized power are incompatible. Thus they set out not only to decentralize our federal government, but also to balance the power held at the national level with the power held by individual states. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution explicitly expresses this intent.”