Constitutional Issues
The Western United States was settled through the spirit of rugged individualism, a value that still impacts our lives today. We expect our representatives to adhere to our country’s founding principles, respect our way of life, and keep unelected Washington bureaucrats from making the decisions that we Coloradans should be making for our families.
The Western United States was settled through the spirit of rugged individualism, a value that still impacts our lives today. We expect our representatives to adhere to our country’s founding principles, respect our way of life, and keep unelected Washington bureaucrats from making the decisions that we Coloradans should be making for our families. Oftentimes, though, government loses sight of the boundaries that the American people have placed on it—the Constitutional safeguards that our nation’s founding fathers put into place—and if left unchecked, the result could mean less freedom for all of us.
All federal actions, regardless of their effectiveness, must be an appropriate exercise of Constitutional authority. But oftentimes today it seems like nothing is off-limits, whether it’s our property, health care, firearms, or right to make an honest living without interference. Before I was elected, I made a commitment to oppose government intrusion and overreach. I intend to honor it, and I will uphold and defend the Constitution—my sworn oath as a member of Congress—no matter what.
Read more:
• Property Rights
• Privacy
• Individual Rights
• Government Oversight
More on my work on Transportation issues:
• Caucuses
• Committee and Floor Activity
• Media
Property Rights
The right to own private property in this country is fundamental to our freedom. Our government was created to protect this right, not to inhibit it. I oppose laws that limit our ability to do as we wish with our land, water, businesses, or homes when it does not directly harm others. I am a steadfast supporter of the 5th Amendment and the limitations it places on the exercise of eminent domain. Moreover, I stand up for landowners in my district who are under the threat of property seizure.
• I worked with the House Appropriations Committee to twice reinstate a funding ban on the proposed Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site expansion northeast of Trinidad, protecting Colorado landowners from the ongoing threat of forced property seizure. Read more here.
• I fought the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) when they announced plans to require the transfer of privately-held water rights to the federal government in exchange for the use of publicly-owned USFS lands. This proposal would have adverse effects on Colorado’s ski industry and on ranchers with leases on federal land, among others. Read more here.
Privacy
We all understand the need for robust law enforcement in dangerous times, and I fully support the efforts of federal and local authorities to keep us safe from terrorism, violent crime and other threats. I have worked to ensure that the tools that enable law enforcement and the courts to bring criminals to justice fall within the bounds of the Constitution in order to provide greater clarity to law enforcement and diminish the possibility that anti-terrorism laws will be struck down by the courts.
Examples include:
• Opposing the four year extension of three controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act which would have led to increased domestic surveillance. Unclear language in the bill left open the likelihood of unnecessary government intrusion in the daily lives of American citizens.
• Opposing H.R. 1540, the FY2012 National Defense Reauthorization Act (NDAA), which contains controversial detainee provisions that potentially allow the President to detain indefinitely American citizens suspected of terrorist activities without due process of law.
• Co-sponsoring the Amash-Smith amendment to the FY2013 NDAA to strike the detainee provisions passed in the FY2012 NDAA. These provisions are already current law and not established by the FY2013 NDAA.
Individual Rights
When well-meaning legislators and government employees try to solve every perceived problem that they can identify, all too often the result is fewer individual rights for all of us. None of us should see our tax dollars go to supporting overreaching federal programs that violate our beliefs and values. And law-abiding Americans are entitled to their second amendment rights; the ability to choose their own health care and schools; and a government that takes as little role in their everyday lives as possible.
• I have voted to repeal the federal health care law which would have forced American citizens to purchase health insurance or face harsh penalties and fines. Read more here.
• I support prohibiting funding for the Department of Health and Human Service’s plan to create a central federal database of private, sensitive health records, a clear invasion of our medical privacy. Read more here.
Government Oversight
• When the President made appointments to the National Labor Relations Board during a period when no recess of the Congress for a period of more than three days was authorized by concurrent resolution, I co-sponsored a resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that those appointments were made in violation of the Constitution.
• When the details of Attorney General Eric Holder’s involvement in Operation Fast and Furious—which allowed thousands of weapons to be transferred into Mexico and into the hands of cartels and violent criminals—surfaced, I signed on as an original co-sponsor to a resolution of disapproval of Attorney General Eric Holder. Reasons for the Resolution include the Attorney General’s misleading of Congressional investigators in February 2011, withholding key evidence from Congressional investigators and being uncooperative.
Committees
• Congressional Western Caucus—Dedicated to preserving the West’s dynamic and unique culture, and to finding innovative solutions that address the distinctive concerns facing western and rural communities.
• Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations (House Small Business Committee)
• Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology (House Small Business Committee)
Watch Floor and Committee Activity
See what I’ve been working on in Washington:
• Rep. Scott Tipton Examines the Impacts of Planned Federal Hijacking of Water Rights
Media
• NBC 11 Coverage of Rep. Scott Tipton’s Fight to Protect Private Water Rights
• Rep. Scott Tipton Recaps 2011 Legislative Progress
For more information concerning my work and views on the issue of civil liberties, please contact my Washington, DC office.