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Federal-State Relations
MAKING GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE means . . . honoring the Tenth Amendment and recognizing that States and localities are better able to determine how to address their needs than Congress is.
POSITION SUMMARY:
We need a complete re-examination of federal policy relative to the fundamental nature of the federal-state relationship.
[Actions that can be taken to establish a more efficient and effective Federal-State “partnership” are discussed in “State Administered Federal Programs” and “Federal Grants to States and Localities.”]
DISCUSSION: "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." Congress has no right legislating matters that are traditionally subject to state control. The courts have consistently recognized this principle. See Adesina v. Aladan Corp., 488 F.Supp.2d 329 (S.D.N.Y., 2006) (Explaining that “the Tenth Amendment presumes that areas of law traditionally governed by the states … will not be displaced by a federal statute.” See also CSX Transp., Inc. v. Easterwood, 507 U.S. 658, 113 S.Ct. 1732, 123 L.Ed.2d 387 (1993) (“a court interpreting a federal statute pertaining to a subject traditionally governed by state law will be reluctant to find preemption.”). Congress alone seems unable to grasp this fact. As long as they act within Constitutional limits, States should be free to act as they want--without federally enacted limits or mandates--in areas such as education, the legalization of drugs, the regulation of marriage and abortion rights and in their decisions to use state funds. These are not proper subjects for federal legislation.
Congress should establish national policies. Congress should establish measurable goals for the programs its establishes. But that is all Congress should do.
Congress should not tell states what the must do to achieve it legislative goals. Congress should not tie the hands of state and local agencies by telling them what they can and cannot do to achieve the objectives of federal legislation.
One size does not fit all. Congress does not, and cannot, know all the variables that affect program success in every community. Congress cannot, in its legislation, provide for all circumstances--and it should not try.
Congress should establish program objectives and get out of the way. Congress should not enact legislation that has so many specific requirements that state and local agencies must establish and maintain vast bureaucracies just to comply with the requirements of the law.
We cannot forget that there are some issues, and some activities, are not the proper concern of the federal government. Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that:
"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” -- Thomas Jefferson
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Paid for and Authorized by
Alan Woodruff for Congress
Campaign Committee
10304 Calle Hidalgo N.W.
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87114
505-508-3421