I was recently reminded of The Enumerated Powers Act (H.R. 450, S. 1319), introduced by Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) in 2009. The Act would require all congressional legislation to contain an explanation of the constitutional authority by which Congress can enact it.
This got me thinking: if I was elected President, one of the first things I would do is require every single federal government agency to submit a report justifying its existence. The only source they can use for such justification is the United States Constitution.
If they can do so, they remain with a budget equal to that in 2006. If they cannot do so, the agency is abolished with its duties discontinued immediately or transferred to a constitutional agency.
What are these enumerated powers? Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution grants to Congress the powers to:
- To pay the debts of the United States.
- To declare war and make rules of warfare, to raise and support armies and a navy and to make rules governing the military forces . . .
- To regulate commerce with foreign Nations, and among the States . . .
- To establish uniform Rules of Naturalization
- To establish uniform Laws on Bankruptcies;
- To coin money and regulate the value thereof;
- To fix the standard of Weights and Measures;
- To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting;
- To establish post offices and post roads;
- To issue patents and copyrights;
- To create courts inferior to the supreme court; and
- To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the Laws of Nations.
- The 16th Amendment established the income tax.
As important as the enumerated powers is the 10th Amendment is even more important. It states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Given all of that, how many agencies would pass The Government Agency Constitutionality Test?
- The Defense Department – provide for our common defense, forts, arsenals, army, navy, etc.
- The Post Office (unfortunately)
- The State Department
- The Treasury Department – Monetary system - coin money based on gold and silver, weights & measures
- The Patent and Trademark Office
- The IRS - To enforce the 16th Amendment and other taxes passed by Congress.
- The federal court system.
- The Attorney General’s Office – To enforce civil rights & voting rights (forget about Eric Holder’s refusal to prosecute the Philadelphia Black Panthers).
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- The Justice Department
That will probably mean the abolishment or privatization of well know agencies such as:
- The Department of Education
- The Department of the Interior
- The Department of Homeland Security
- The Department of Health and Human Services
- The Department of Labor
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development
- The Department of Energy
- The Commerce Department
- The Department of Transportation
- Amtrak
- The Food and Drug Administration
- The Labor Relations Administration
- Fannie Mae
- Freddie Mac
- The Bureau of Land Management
- The National Endowment for the Arts
- The National Endowment for the Humanities
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
I believe by taking this action, we will not only tackle our record national debt and deficit problem but also alleviate much of the problems associated with the federal government’s abuse of the Commerce and General Welfare clauses.
For those of you who wish to dive deeper into this subject, below is some additional background from The Federalist Papers:
Federalist No. 45 - James Madison - The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.
Federalist No. 39: ...the proposed government cannot be deemed a national one; since its jurisdiction extends to certain enumerated objects only, and leaves to the several States a residuary and inviolable sovereignity over all other objects.
