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FOXX STANDS UP FOR PERSONAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Washington, DC,
November 3, 2005
This evening, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.-5) acted to protect personal property rights by voting for H.R. 4128, the “Protection of Homes, Small Businesses and Private Property Act of 2005.” This bill, which passed 376 to 38, will cut feder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE This evening, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.-5) acted to protect personal property rights by voting for H.R. 4128, the “Protection of Homes, Small Businesses and Private Property Act of 2005.” This bill, which passed 376 to 38, will cut federal funding for municipal governments that use eminent domain for commercial business development. Rep. Foxx and her colleagues were driven to take action following last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Kelo v. New London. The High Court ruled that government may seize personal property if it believes it is in the best interest of commercial business development. With that decision, Susette Kelo and 15 of her neighbors lost their homes to a hotel and other business developments. One resident forced to sell her home had been born there in 1918. “Stripping law-abiding citizens of their property rights in order to help promote commercial development is unconscionable,” said Rep. Foxx. “This is not what our Founding Fathers intended when they wrote the Fifth Amendment. The concept of eminent domain used to mean that government could purchase property for highways, utilities and other public infrastructure – but not shopping malls, swimming pools and amusement parks.” Rep. Foxx noted that the Kelo decision will especially hurt the poor and elderly because the government can purchase their land at a lower cost. Furthermore, these people generally do not have the means to afford legal fees in taking a case to court. Under H.R. 4128, federal funds would be denied to states or localities that abuse their power by using “economic development” as the reason for seizing private property. The bill also allows those affected by this type of seizure to have access to federal or state court. “The protection of our homes, small businesses and other private property against government seizure is one of the fundamental principles upon which our country was founded,” said Rep. Foxx. “If the highest court in our land will not protect this right, then it is up to this Congress to do so.” ### |