By Jeff Wenworth - Republican State Senator District 25
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas -- Do you ever want to throw your hands up and yell What are the Feds THINKING!? I do.
The federal government and the bureaucrats are too large and in charge. More lawsuits are filed as our Texas Attorney General battles the Goliath that is the federal government.
Texas recently wrapped up court cases regarding new Congressional and state legislative district maps required by federal law following the federal census. The Attorney General defended the Legislatures maps before separate federal panels in Washington DC and San Antonio as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.
As a result of those lawsuits against the new district maps Texans will vote for our presidential preference very late in the process on May 29 instead of the March date established by Texas law.
Another lawsuit is in a U. S. District Court to gain judicial preclearance of the new voter photo-ID law passed by the Legislature last year. The State of Texas is suing Eric Holder in his capacity as the U.S. Attorney General to allow the law to take effect.
The law wont be used in the May 29 primary elections but if the State prevails voters may have to show a photo ID in order to vote in the November general election.
Texas recently won a separate lawsuit against the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. That case forced the Obama administration to reverse its decision to reject Texas exemptions on pollution control equipment (PCP).
The Bush administration had approved Texas PCP permitting program in 2003 but the Obama administration reversed that decision in 2009.
Although Texas won this ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals took more than three years and cost a ton of money.
The current U.S. Supreme Court case challenging Obamacare has been making headlines. Texas is one of 25 states challenging the laws constitutionality. Foremost is the question: Can the federal government require or mandate that citizens purchase a product?
Critics ask: If the federal government can force you to buy private health insurance can they then require you to buy a car or a DVD player? Its all interstate commerce after all.
In another example of government gone wild the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed adding the Sand Dune Lizard to the Endangered Species List. This lizard lives in the Permian Basin of West Texas a huge oil- and gas-producing section of our state.
This potential listing has been attacked by several statewide elected officials and the Board of Regents for The University of Texas System which manages 75000 acres there.
According to U.S. Senator John Cornyn listing the lizard as an endangered species could shut down oil and gas production in the Permian Basin for two to five years threaten 27000 West Texas jobs threaten property rights and cause a missed opportunity to lower energy prices for consumers nationwide.
We can stop this overreaching by an out-of-control federal government. Later this week Ill explain how we do it. Its possible and it must be done now for the sake of our children and grandchildren.
