Rob Bishop: “I appreciate joining the majority whip, Mr. Blunt of Missouri, as well as the chairman of the Constitution Caucus, Mr.…”

“I appreciate joining the majority whip, Mr. Blunt of Missouri, as well as the chairman of the Constitution Caucus, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey. For several weeks now we have tried to come before this body and talk about issues in which the Federal Government in its effort to be helpful has actually caused greater harm than good. We have talked about the significance of sunset reviews, reviewing administrative decisions, mandates, States that would put on specific pieces of legislation that would help solve some of those problems. Again we come before you today, and I am grateful to be able to talk with these good gentlemen about once again the Federal Government, in an effort to be helpful, not malicious but helpful, tipping the balance of power with the net result that people are harmed, not by design, but that is the way that has happened. Consent decrees, which shift the horizontal balance of power, have had the net effect of actually harming individuals. It is something that is a phenomenon that every State has experienced. Federal consent decrees are enforced in all 50 States, which end with judges running prisons, schools, welfare agencies, health care systems and on and on, usually on decisions that are based upon the advice of the advocates who brought original lawsuits in the first place. It has been mentioned there have been a couple of Supreme Court decisions that have talked about these phenomena. The case of Jenkins v.…”