Political Quotes

“I will disagree on the economics that were just presented. But apart from the economics of the lightbulb mandate, that is, in fact, only part of the story. With the extreme expansion of Federal powers undertaken in the last administration, when the Democrats were in charge of Congress for 4 years, Americans have just now begun to see how far the Constitution's Commerce Clause has been manipulated from its original intent. The lightbulb mandate is a perfect example of this manipulation. The Commerce Clause was intended by our Founding Fathers to be a limitation on Federal authority, not a catchall in order to allow for any topic to be regulated by Washington. Indeed, it is clear that the Founding Fathers never intended for this clause to be used to allow the Federal Government to regulate and pass mandates on consumer products that do not pose a risk to either human health or safety. Mr. Chairman, in December of 2007, when this bill was first passed, the columnist George Will observed on television one Sunday morning that it is the job of the Federal Government to defend the borders and deliver the mail. But instead of keeping up with those two tasks, we instead decided to ban the incandescent bulb. It was wrong in 2007. It is wrong in 2017. Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess). The amendment was agreed to.…”