Political Quotes

“Reserving the right to object, I want to first make a couple of points, which as we talk about this, I think it is clear to identify who is the taxing authority. The distinguished and very learned constitutional scholar from the State of Texas knows well that the imposition does not come from this body. The imposition comes from States and local governments which have 10th Amendment sovereign rights. They have the ability to finance their own government. They have the ability to make those decisions. Congress has the right to make decisions on their ability, based on a concept that Congress ultimately has the obligation to control and to deal with interstate commerce. Only in the rarest of circumstances when interstate commerce is critically involved has Congress stepped up. It is very rare that this body, or that any previous Congress, has actually dictated the constraints of that sovereign right of States and local governments under the 10th Amendment to impose their own taxes. I can tell you the RRRR Act is probably one of the most glaring examples. During a time in the 1970s when the railroads were struggling and different kinds of transportation organizations were struggling, we saw this body step up with a unified approach to improving the railroads. Guess what. The railroads got better. The States know now what the constraints are, established by this body, very limited on their ability to do centralized assessments on the railroads.…”