What’s the biggest complaint people have about Congress? Most complain that they don’t do anything. And boy, oh boy, they’re well paid for doing nothing. Additionally, because of weakened insider trading restrictions on Congress and without term limits, most end up wealthy when they leave office.
Much of the following information comes from a speech Sen. Mike Lee made before the Federalist Society a year ago May on the Article 1 Project. Many Americans now feel that they are not in control of their own government. It’s because we aren’t. Power has been taken away from us in two steps. First, it’s been taken away from the state and local level and given to Washington, D.C., and from our elected officials in Washington to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington.
Thankfully there are a number of groups trying to make Article 1 great again. Article 1 of the Constitution established the legislative branch of the federal government. Congress has many duties, but the very first listed in Section 1 may be the most abandoned today. It reads: “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
The most fundamental duty of Congress is to make laws. In the Constitution that power was not shared by either of the other branches of government. The delegation of legislative power has been a topic of discussion for a long time, centuries in fact. John Locke in 1690, in his Second Treatise of Civil Government, said, “The Legislative cannot transfer the Power of Making Laws to any other hands.”
But that is exactly what they have done. Today most of our laws take the form of regulations or written orders by those in federal agencies who, in a nod to the axiom of “by consent of the people,” allow for a notice and comment process where the public is given a chance to comment online for a period of 60-90 days. But these agencies are not generally required to hold public hearings on a proposed rule and are rarely swayed by any of the public comments offered. This, according to Sen. Mike Lee, is an upending of our constitutional order. The Federal Register, which logs all these agency rules and regulations, amounted to 61,116 pages last year alone, an approximate 35 percent drop from Obama’s record during his last year in office. Even so, this is massive government overreach.
Congress, not the courts, bears primary responsibility for this. Outsourcing their lawmaking provides a buffer between themselves and voters. They want credit for doing good things like cleaning up the air or water, but they also want deniability when the EPA’s clean water rule severely impacts private property rights and the economy.
Article 1 Project intends to help Congress reassert their power over agencies and reinvigorate the separation of powers in a number of ways. The REINS Act — passed in the House but not yet in the Senate — would require congressional approval for any new regulation imposing $100 million or more in compliance costs. The Separation of Powers Restoration Act would reinstate federal judges’ obligation to interpret federal statutes that today tilts the legal playing field in favor of federal bureaucracies. And finally, the Agency Accountability Act would make federal agencies more accountable by directing fines, fees, and penalty proceeds to the Treasury, instead of letting federal agencies keep and spend this money.
Any or all of these proposed laws would go a long way to restoring our Constitutional Republic to what the founders intended and hopefully streamline our now bloated federal bureaucracy.
As citizens of a free republic it is our duty to preserve it. If you would like to take a free online course on the U. S. Constitution go to: www.freeconstitutioncourse.com.
Mikie Kerr is a constituional enthusiast who lives in Waikoloa and writes a monthly column for West Hawaii Today.