It used to be a very boring place to be a Congressman down here because there were almost no laws on the books. The Federal laws, to begin with, in terms of laws about right and wrong, were, one of them was a law against piracy on the high seas. Another one was against counterfeiting. Another one was a law against espionage. Those three laws were the main laws on the books federally. And what did they have in common? Well, just exactly your point. Piracy, counterfeiting and espionage against our country were against the general welfare. They were laws that affected everything. So laws against murder and rape and stealing and all that kind of stuff were all State laws because the States made all those laws. So you had a very limited jurisdiction federally. And now, as you say, we've got all of these different sorts of creeping red tape which keep costing. In an insidious way, everybody's cost of living keeps slipping up, but you don't really know why, who's nibbling all the money out of your wallet.
Editor's note · Context
The speaker discusses the evolution of federal laws and the impact of increasing regulations on cost of living.
Share
More from W. Todd Akin
In just about a week or so, we're going to be sitting down at tables celebrating Thanksgiving and eating turkey and getting a little sleepy maybe afterwards. But as we think about Thanksgiving and we think about the holiday of Thanksgiving…
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are going to talk for a little while here this afternoon about a subject that is on, I think, everybody's minds regardless of their political affiliations. The more we look at it, the more significant it seems to…
On rollcall No. 601 and 602, I was delayed and unable to vote. Had I been present I would have voted ``aye'' on both. ____________________
On rollcall Nos. 78 and 79, I was delayed and unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on No. 78, and ``aye'' on No. 79. ____________________





