Eminent Domain

EMINENT DOMAIN -- (House of Representatives - November 02, 2005)

(Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, last June, in a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the government may force property owners to sell their property to make way for private economic development when officials deem it beneficial to the public. With that decision, Susette Kelo and 15 of her neighbors lost their fight to hold on to their homes. One neighbor forced to sell her home was born there in 1918 and lived in the house her entire life.

The properties Kelo and her neighbors are being forced to abandon will not be a replaced with a needed road or school but with upscale housing and a marina.

The sanctity of private property is one that Americans hold dear, and this Supreme Court decision threatens that. This House has appropriately responded by offering the Protection of Homes, Small Businesses, and Private Property Act of 2005 which would protect property by limiting the power of eminent domain.

Mr. Speaker, the fifth amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government taking private property except for public use. The protection of our homes, small business, and other private property rights against government seizure is one of the fundamental principles this country was founded upon. If the highest court in the land will not protect this right, it is up to us to do so.

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