Political Quotes

“I commend my colleague from Michigan for his leadership on this very important bipartisan issue. There should not be much dispute around the constitutional basis for the need of this change. In plain language, civil forfeiture basically allows police to seize, keep, or sell any property they allege is involved with a crime. Owners of that property may never be arrested or convicted of a crime, but they will see their money or their cars or their homes be promptly taken away permanently. Now, in 2017, the Department of Justice expanded civil asset forfeiture, allowing local law enforcement to bypass State laws and seize property from people with the lowest possible burden of evidence, again, regardless of whether or not that person was ever convicted or even charged with a crime. Furthermore, it puts the burden of proof on the private citizen to go through the bureaucracy and the red tape to attempt to reclaim their property, which is extremely difficult to do. This violates the very principle of our justice system: innocent until proven guilty. It is a violation of the Fifth Amendment, which says: ``No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.'' Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense, bipartisan measure. I am proud to stand in strong support and urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''”