Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 288, Separation of Powers Restoration Act or SOPRA. The Constitution separates the powers of the Federal Government into a system of checks and balances. Article I, Section 1 grants Congress all legislative power, while executive power is granted to the President, and judicial power is vested in the courts, as we all know. However, since 1984 when the Supreme Court ruled that courts must defer to an agency's interpretation of an ambiguous statute rather than what Congress intended, the executive branch has begun usurping the legislative branch to issue regulations with the force of law. This consolidation of power departs from the constitutional principles and harms our own liberties. It is certainly not what our Founders intended. Yet, this 1984 ruling, known as Chevron, has paved the way for unelected bureaucrats to issue sweeping rules with no consequences. Just in 2021, for example, executive branch agencies issued more than 3,200 rules that imposed vaccine mandates on workers. They were also involved in overturning the Keystone pipeline, and required a $15 minimum wage for Federal contractors, and allowed the IRS to spy on Americans' bank accounts. Meanwhile, that same year, only 143 bills passed by Congress were signed into law. This means executive branch agencies impose more than 20 times as many mandates as actual legislators.…”