Mike Lee - Fighting for the Constitution

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is a gem. He continually stands up to the seemingly daily attacks upon the U.S. Constitution by the Obama Administration. Senator Lee is currently co-sponsoring a bill to make the Obama Administration, and future Administrations, Democrat or Republican, have to seek Congressional approval for any regulations formed through the Departments, like the EPA, that have more than a $100 million effect on the national economy as determined by the GAO.

This is a welcome and much needed change, as Obama directs his administration to legislate through their implied regulatory authority as opposed of going through the People's representatives in Congress. What has transpired is hundreds of regulations that are choking our economy and individual/states rights.....

He is also looking to scale back the federal government's control over federally owned land within a state. Just this week Lee introduced a bill in the Senate that would require the federal government to seek approval from a state legislature prior to making a federal land designation in that state. Such designations could include classifying an area as a national park, national monument or national recreation area.

 "Too often, the federal government ignores the people's rights to determine for themselves how best to utilize their own land," Lee said in a statement announcing the bill's introduction. "States with smaller populations, like Utah, end up with only a limited voice in Congress. The process should include greater protections for states and local communities against unwanted and often economically damaging decisions."

The bill comes on the heels of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar dedicating two new conservation areas in southern Utah this week. The areas are a result of a bill that passed through Congress in 2009 sponsored by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Lee's predecessor, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah. Had Lee's proposal been in place then, the state Legislature would have had to sign off on the land designations.

The proposal also would have an effect on the president's ability to use the Antiquities Act to designate areas of federally owned land as national monuments. President Bill Clinton designated a portion of southern Utah as a monument via the act in 1996. Under Lee's proposal the president would need approval from the state legislature before the president's actions become permanent.

 In the video below, Senator Lee appears before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, testifying against President Obama's unconstitutional appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board. Mike Lee is a first term Senator and rising star in the Republican party and Tea Party community. It gives me hope to see Legislators like him, Allan West, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and a few others.