Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Separation of Powers Restoration Act, legislation that works to scale back the power of the administration's regulatory agencies and, instead, returns the interpretation of laws to the courts.

For too long, unelected Federal bureaucrats have been running rampant on our Constitution, taking interpretations of the law further than Congress intended them.

If you would have told me that 90 percent of my time here in Congress would be spent fighting Federal agencies' overreach, I would have thought you were joking, but that is the truth. It is sad.

Our Founding Fathers never intended for faceless bureaucrats to have this power. The power of lawmaking is in this body.

There are many examples out there as well, not only the coal industry. You know, West Virginia had the tenth best economy in this Nation just 10 years ago. Now it is the worst economy in the Nation.

I have got lots of electric membership corporations in my district and, you know, they spent billions of dollars upgrading their coal- powered plants, but they continue to be harassed by the EPA.

It is time that this agency top-down approach is dealt with. It is not in the best interest of the folks in Georgia, in the 12th District of Georgia, let alone the rest of the country.

It is time to get back to Congress writing the laws and the courts interpreting them, and to dismantle the growing fourth branch of this government. I am proud to support this legislation that gives Federal agencies a reality check.

We wonder why the economy is not growing. Everywhere I go, people say that the biggest restriction on this economy is the regulatory overreach. We must stop this, and that is why I am proud to support the Separation of Powers Restoration Act.

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