Mike Turner Introduces Constitutional Amendment to Halt Government Takeovers of Private Businesses

Press Release

Congressman Mike Turner introduced H.J.RES 22, the Preserving Capitalism in America Amendment. This legislation proposes a constitutional amendment to prohibit the government from buying stock or equity in corporations.

"The Administration has fired CEO's, set compensation levels for private sector employees and picked winners and losers, deciding which employee pensions would be "topped off' and who would lose their hard earned retirement. Action is necessary to address the federal government's deepening involvement in the nation's private industry and financial sector," said Congressman Turner.

Turner introduced this legislation after seeing the effects firsthand of a region devastated by a bailed out corporation with no responsibility to its employees or the community-at-large. In July of 2009, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court granted authority to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to assume responsibility for the pension plans of thousands of Delphi Corporation salaried retirees. As a result, many employees faced as much as a 70 percent reduction in pension benefits. Approximately 1,000 salaried Delphi retirees from the Dayton, OH region have been impacted because of Delphi's bankruptcy.

"The effect of these plant closures has been felt throughout the Dayton region as many of our family members, neighbors, and friends were Delphi employees. The closure of these facilities also has an impact beyond individual job loss. Whole neighborhoods have been affected by Delphi's bankruptcy through increased foreclosures, and community services have been affected because of an eroded tax base," Congressman Turner testified in December of 2009, before the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, which was investigating Delphi's pension management.

The $700 billion Wall Street and Automotive Industry Bailout and the $800 billion economic stimulus were poorly considered, did nothing to help those who lost their homes and jobs, and lacked specifics to show how these huge taxpayer investments would be spent. At the risk of the story of Delphi in Dayton being repeated across the nation, Congress must act to prevent this from happening to other communities in the future.

"The American public is increasingly concerned about the long-term potential of government control of our private sector businesses. The most effective method to prevent government intrusion and manipulation of the private sector is through this constitutional amendment," added Turner.

This proposed Constitutional amendment, which was introduced with 96 cosponsors, and enjoyed 104 Cosponsors in the 111th Congress, preserves the government's right to provide loans to, or acquire equity interests in, any public authority corporation, public use corporation, or investments by any government pension fund.

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