John Hansen: “the U.S. Constitution says that if the Government takes private property, the owner of the property shall receive just…”

“the U.S. Constitution says that if the Government takes private property, the owner of the property shall receive just compensation. In Washington County, Utah, the desert tortoise was put on the endangered species list. Therefore, the U.S. Government required hundreds of acres of tracts for that habitat. About 30 taxpayers were involved. They did not want to give up their ground. They wanted to keep it. But no, the Federal Government says, ``We've got to take that ground for this habitat.'' And they said, ``It's not taking your ground.'' And then you ask, ``What is it taking?'' ``Well,'' they say, ``you can keep your property but you can't put your foot on it. You can pay taxes on your property, but you can't use it. We're not taking your property.'' So the Federal Government offered about one-fourth of the value of the ground. Now, is that fair? Is that just? Is that just compensation? I do not think it is. Tom Brokaw of NBC does a program called The Fleecing of America. He used this land issue saying these poor taxpayers fleeced the American Government when they got it for that price. Well, he got it wrong, as the press normally does. I am just amazed that the media misses one so far. Who really got fleeced on this, Mr. Speaker? The people who got fleeced were those people that gave up their ground for one-fourth of the value.”