Daniel Coats

Army Corps of Engineers water projects are unconstitutional. Nowhere does the Constitution give the federal government authority to “restore” or “improve” the environment or guarantee safe drinking water. Such projects, if needed, should be handled by the states and cities. Further, many of the Army Corps of Engineers projects actually have disastrous results, far from what was originally intended.

HR2028 Continuing Appropriations (Passed 63 to 36 on 12/9/2016, Roll Call 161). Provides funding for federal government operations at the fiscal year 2016 level through 4/28/2017 at an annualized rate of $1.07 trillion.

The authorizations in this bill go way beyond providing for our national defense. Our foreign military interventions in the Middle East in particular have exacerbated terrorism and undermined U.S. security. The creation of the Orwellian “Global Engagement Center,” which was added to the NDAA without Congress being able to vote on it as a stand-alone bill, also falls outside the scope of legitimate national defense. Rather than agreeing to the version of NDAA they did, our lawmakers should have rejected it and passed instead a constitutionally sound version.

The United States should not interject itself in foreign conflicts such as the civil war in Yemen, and should not take steps tantamount to going to war without congressional debate and a declaration of war by Congress.

Attempting to help citizens deal with drug overdose and addiction is not a responsibility of the U.S. government under the Constitution. While it is arguably better to treat addicts as people having a medical problem rather than as criminals needing incarceration, this is not a constitutional use of taxpayer money. Such programs, if handled by government, should be handled by local or state governments rather than the federal government.

Amendment to S764 GMO Labeling (Passed 63 to 30 on 7/7/2016, Roll Call 123). Requires the Department of Agriculture to establish a national mandatory disclosure standard for genetically modified organism (GMO) food.

The presence of “sanctuary cities,” in which cities and states harbor illegal immigrants and protect them from deportation, is a violation of federal immigration law. Saying such cities and states are ineligible for federal grants, while imperfect in that it essentially uses federal (and likely unconstitutional) grant money as a “bribe,” is still a step in the right direction.

Restricting non-criminals from flying is a violation of the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of "due process of law," and linking firearm ownership to a federal no-fly list is a violation of the Second Amendment's protection of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The federal no-fly list includes many people with no criminal record, and some people with identical or similar names to convicted criminals are erroneously placed on the list.

Federally mandated background checks for all firearm purchases have long been a goal of gun-control advocates, as they could easily be used to restrict firearm ownership by setting arbitrary requirements for passing the background checks. Murphy’s amendment is a blatant violation of the Second Amendment, which prohibits the federal government from infringing upon the people’s right to keep and bear arms.

Funding overseas contingency operations for domestic programs is not “defense” spending and does not belong in the NDAA. The federal government has no constitutional authority to engage in such spending for operations in other countries, and using American taxpayer dollars in an attempt to fight drugs and disease is inappropriate.

Amendment to HR2577 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (Rejected 60 to 37 on 5/19/2016, Roll Call 81). Prohibits the use of funds to carry out the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule and notice of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Any federal involvement in the transportation or housing markets via regulations or subsidies is an overstepping of constitutional boundaries. Government involvement in the housing market can cause market distortions, and subsidizing housing for those who cannot afford it is a form of wealth redistribution. While helping veterans is arguably constitutional, the Department of Veterans affairs, and the Veterans Health Administration in particular, is a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy and a perfect example of the failures of socialized medicine. The federal government ought to cover veterans' healthcare costs but allow them to use the same private sector healthcare services that non-veterans use. This would be cheaper, offer better care, and be more efficient than the current VA boondoggle, and be constitutional.

The U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to regulate or otherwise get involved in energy production. Particularly troubling is the $95 million subsidy for wind energy, which is an intermittent energy source that will not replace any conventional energy utilities. While chump change when compared to most federal spending, it is still unconstitutional and a crony-capitalist venture whereby the government is rigging the market by picking winners and losers. The federal government should stay out of energy production, period, and leave it up to a free market to decide what type of and how much energy should be produced.

The U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to regulate and/or manage segments of the economy, such as aviation. Airplane manufacturers, airlines, and airports should all be privately run, and not subsidized by the federal government.

Amendment to HR636 TSA (Passed 91 to 5 on 4/7/2016, Roll Call 42). Authorize funding for additional Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

King’s adamant support for Common Core and its universal one-size fits all approach to local education. Moreover, the Department of Education is unconstitutional.

U.S. presidents, including Obama, have established these national monuments through executive orders, thereby placing huge tracts of land off-limits to development, without the approval of either Congress or the states where the land is located.

Both federal water regulations and the EPA are unconstitutional, and if the rule were to be allowed to go into effect, activities such as farming and real estate development would be greatly hampered, since farmers and developers would be subject to increased unconstitutional permit requirements and fines concerning their treatment of almost any “body of water,” no matter how small.

Congress is authorized to protect each state against invasion.

The Federal Reserve system, essentially a cartel of private banks functioning as a central bank, is unconstitutional and is responsible for much of the nation’s current financial problems via its control of money and credit. An audit of the Fed would shed light on its otherwise secretive practices and perhaps lead to its eventual abolishment.

With this omnibus bill members of Congress are failing to address their fiscally and constitutionally irresponsible budgeting and appropriating process that is currently yielding annual federal deficits measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars, as well as minimizing their accountability to the voters by combining all discretionary federal spending for fiscal 2016 into one gigantic “take it or leave it” bill.

As explained in House vote 19, the federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved with education; nowhere in the U.S. Constitution is education listed as one of the government’s enumerated powers. K-12 education, if publicly funded, should be run primarily by parents coordinating with local school districts rather than by a centralized bureaucracy out of Washington, D.C

The federal government should not hinder existing power plants with regulations that stifle energy production and increase rates, there is no authorization in the Constitution for the federal government to interfere in the energy sector, and CO2 is not a pollutant.

Both federal water regulations and the EPA are unconstitutional, and if the rule were to be allowed to go into effect, activities such as farming and real estate development would be greatly hampered, since farmers and developers would be subject to increased unconstitutional permit requirements and fines concerning their treatment of almost any “body of water,” no matter how small.

HR1314 Raising the Spending Cap and Suspending the National Debt Limit (Passed 64 to 35 on 10/30/2015, Roll Call 294). Temporarily suspends the national debt limit and puts a ceiling on how much money the federal government is allowed to borrow.

The federal government should not, and has no constitutional authority to, subsidize the killing of innocent human life.

The Export-Import Bank, as explained in House vote 16, is a poster boy for corporate cronyism. The government finances or insures foreign purchases from U.S. companies that commercial banks are unwilling or unable to finance owing to the political or commercial risks inherent in the deals, leaving taxpayers on the hook in the event of default.

TPA would facilitate the subordination of the national independence of the United States to regional blocs of nations in a process that is leading toward a world government.

Any form of torture is a violation of a person’s God-given rights, regardless of whether or not the person is a U.S. citizen. In fact, the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment.” The U.S. government is not above the rule of law, and any government agency or agent must be held accountable to a standard that respects human rights and dignity.

Arming foreign fighters would be an act of war, and under the U.S. Constitution, only Congress may declare war. Moreover, our interventionist policy in the Middle East has exacerbated terrorism. In Syria, for example, arming the so-called moderate rebels helped create the ISIS threat. And regarding Iraq, arms sent to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) could also fall into the hands of the rival Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a communist terrorist group dedicated to the creation of a Marxist-Leninist state of Kurdistan. The KRG is divided between the more conservative Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK) of Iraq and the left-wing Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which is affiliated with the Socialist International.

The federal government has no constitutional authority risking taxpayers' money to provide loans and terms that the private sector considers too risky to provide. Indeed, U.S. government-backed export financing is a form of corporate welfare, and if the Ex-Im Bank went bust (as happened to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae), the taxpayers would have been stuck holding the bag. The bank's charter was not reauthorized, and it expired on June 30, 2015.

Federal jobs programs are unconstitutional. Moreover, it makes no sense to claim that the federal government must cough up federal funds to help workers who will lose their jobs to supposedly jobs-creating trade agreements.

HR1314 Trade Promotion Authority (Passed 62 to 37 on 5/22/2015, Roll Call 193). Renews the on-again-off-again "fast track authority" that Congress has often awarded to the president over the past several decades.

Lynch is supportive of blatantly unconstitutional actions on the part of the executive branch.

No branch of government has been empowered by the Constitution to force Americans to buy health insurance.

This resolution steals wealth from some to give to others, cause an overabundance of workers in certain job fields (meaning grossly wasted funds), and expand unconstitutional federal involvement in education.

The federal government has no constitutional authority to interject itself in the education sector, and Common Core is intended to create a national curriculum leading to nationalizing education.

The UN Arms Trade Treaty is an attempt by a global governance body, the United Nations, to regulate weapons. Such regulation is at odds with the American ideals of national sovereignty and freedom to bear arms without infringement by government. While the UN likely wouldn't march into American neighborhoods to confiscate guns the moment the treaty was ratified, ratification of the treaty would be a step in the wrong direction. Any opposition to the UN Arms Trade Treaty is to be commended.

Under the U.S. Constitution, "all legislative powers herein granted" are delegated to Congress, and it is the responsibility of the president to faithfully execute the law. The president is not a "king" or "dictator" who may make his own law.

The federal government has no constitutional authority to regulate industry practices or set drinking water standards. These standards are monitored and enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is itself an unconstitutional agency created by executive order.

HR83 Executive Action on Immigration (Rejected 22 to 74 on 12/13/2014, Roll Call 353). Senator Cruz raised a constitutional point of order that the bill violates the Constitution's separation of powers because the bill would fund President Obama's executive action on amnesty. 

With this fiscal 2015 omnibus appropriations bill, Congress is failing to address its fiscally and constitutionally irresponsible budgeting and appropriating process that is currently yielding annual federal deficits measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars that contribute directly to the dramatic growth of our already $18 trillion national debt.

This bill essentially gets the federal government out of the way of economic development. While one could correctly argue that the federal government should not have been involved in this issue in the first place, and that from a constitutional standpoint it should be left up to the states, private property owners, and TransCanada to work out an arrangement, this bill is definitely a step in the right direction since it would remove unconstitutional federal regulatory road blocks against the pipeline project.

The federal government has no constitutional authorization to determine the value of employees' labor in the private sector, whether in the absolute sense or relative to other wages. Wages instead should be determined by the market.

This proposed constitutional amendment would effectively repeal the free speech provision of the First Amendment, since restricting the amount of money that may be spent on political speech would restrict political speech.

most of the $3.6 billion requested by President Obama would be used to expand his amnesty program of deferred action for childhood arrivals, an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress' power to "to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization."

Amendment to HR5021 Gas Tax (Rejected 28 to 69 on 7/29/2014, Roll Call 246). Transfers local transportation infrastructure projects to the states.

S2578 Contraception (Rejected 56 to 43 on 7/16/2014, Roll Call 228). Would force employers to pay for contraceptives (including abortifacients) even when they object on religious grounds. 

There is no constitutional authorization for federal workforce-training programs. This is not to say that workforce training is a bad thing, but such programs are best handled by the private sector, which would surely provide more and better jobs if the federal government were to siphon less money out of the economy for programs to improve the economy.

Fischer's record indicates that he is supportive of central bank inflationary policies that create economic havoc. Moreover, the Federal Reserve, America's central bank that creates money out of thin air, is unconstitutional.

Opposing the nomination of such a high-ranking establishment operative to be point person for implementing the unconstitutional ObamaCare law should be a no-brainer for Constitution-supporting senators.

Any debate on the Senate floor that could prevent a federal minimum wage increase is a good thing. A federal minimum wage is unconstitutional, since nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to dictate how much private businesses pay their employees for services performed as part of a private, voluntary contract. Furthermore, many studies have demonstrated that minimum wage increases always lead to more unemployment among the poor and unskilled workers, the very people whom the wage increase is ostensibly intended to help.

By paying people unemployment benefits, the federal government is essentially subsidizing unemployment. That the federal government does this in the first place is bad enough, but any extension of said benefits is even worse. At a time when government debt is nearly $17 trillion, paying unemployment benefits is fiscally irresponsible. Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution nowhere authorizes the federal government to provide unemployment benefits to workers. This type of welfare should be handled on the state or local level, if handled by the government at all.

HR4152 Ukraine Aid (Passed 98 to 2 on 3/27/2014, Roll Call 88). Provides $150 million for direct aid to Ukraine.

Childcare funding is an unconstitutional activity of the federal government.

The federal government should live within its means, suspending the debt limit is even worse than raising it, and most of the spending responsible for the ballooning national debt is unconstitutional.

Both farm aid and food aid are unconstitutional. The food subsidy programs are supposed to help the poor, but in practice they have done little to lift people out of poverty, as evidenced by the growing number of recipients of these programs.

This budget agreement Congress is failing to address its fiscally and constitutionally irresponsible budgeting and appropriating process that is currently yielding annual federal deficits measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars that contribute directly to the dramatic growth of our $17 trillion national debt.

The economic havoc, caused by inflation, that Yellen contributed to as vice-chair and that she intends to continue as the new chair of the Fed. Furthermore, a central bank, such as the Fed, that creates money out of thin air is not authorized by the Constitution.

This budget agreement Congress is failing to address its fiscally and constitutionally irresponsible budgeting and appropriating process that is currently yielding annual federal deficits measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars that contribute directly to the dramatic growth of our $17 trillion national debt.

The federal government is overstepping its constitutional boundaries by dictating the hiring practices of private employers. While the exemption for religious organizations is a good thing, the bill is still a serious infringement on private property rights as it limits what a person can and cannot do on his or her private property, in this case a business.

The federal government should live within its means and because most of the spending responsible for the ballooning national debt is unconstitutional.

Amendment to HR2775 Continuing Resolution (Passed 81 to 18 on 10/16/2013, Roll Call 219). Continues funding government operations, including ObamaCare.

The bill contains appropriations for huge amounts of unconstitutional spending.

Amendment to HJR59 Continuing Resolution (Passed 54 to 44 on 9/27/2013, Roll Call 209). Continues funding the federal government, including ObamaCare.

The bill called for more spending and of the spending is unconstitutional.

a reduction in foreign aid, particularly in the form of military assistance, is a good thing. The Constitution does not authorize the government to give foreign aid and meddle in other nations internal affairs, so while Paul's amendment would allow for the resumption of aid to Egypt, it would still be an improvement on the status quo.

forcing a vote on an unconstitutional action of the federal government is a bad thing. The U.S. government should not be in the business of subsidizing higher education to begin with, and continuing a low interest rate on student loans would merely encourage this unconstitutional activity. Additionally, owing to the ease of obtaining government loans for education and the sheer amount of unpaid student debt, the nation is now facing a colossal "student debt bubble" that could have severe negative economic consequences.

The large-scale amnesty and new visa programs coupled with a lack of effective border security would lead to both large increases in legal immigration and continuing large-scale illegal immigration, even though the U.S. government has the duty under Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution to "protect [every state] against Invasion." Furthermore, we have assigned pluses to the nays because, by granting amnesty, increasing levels of legal immigration, and permitting continued large-scale illegal immigration, this bill provides a transition to the open borders sought by the advocates of a North American Union and other regional government schemes threatening our national sovereignty.

It is the constitutional duty of the United States to "protect [every state] against Invasion" (Article IV, Section 4).

Both federal food and farm subsidies are unconstitutional. Though the CBO estimates that S. 954 would cost $18 billion less over 10 years than under current law, this reduction would only be 1.9 percent of projected spending.

The federal government does not have the constitutional authority to prevent states from enacting their own product-labeling requirements.

The Internet sales tax would essentially be a tax on interstate commerce, which is unconstitutional according to Article I Section 9: \"No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.\" Furthermore, requiring online retailers to collect sales taxes from numerous states would pose onerous burdens to small businesses and hinder economic growth.

Amendment to S649 "Assault Weapons" Ban (Rejected 40 to 60 on 4/17/2013, Roll Call 101). Sen. Feinstein offered an amendment that would ban the future manufacture, import, sale, transfer, or possession of certain semi-automatic firearms.

Banning high-capacity ammunition clips for law-abiding citizens is a clear violation of the Constitution - the Second Amendment guarantees that our "right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Amendment to S.Con.Res 8 UN Arms Trade Treaty (Passed 53 to 46 on 3/23/2013, Roll Call 91). Sen. Inhofe offered an amendment to "uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty." 

The federal government should allow entrepreneurs to develop energy resources, rather than deny access.

Any reduction of unconstitutional federal agencies and massive amounts of debt-laden, unconstitutional federal spending, without revenue increases, is desirable.

The federal government should live within its means and because most of the spending responsible for the ballooning national debt is unconstitutional.

Federally financing disaster relief is unconstitutional.

Passage of this mammoth continuing resolution provided a way for Congress to perpetuate its fiscally irresponsible, unconstitutional spending habits with a minimum of accountability to its constituents.

The private owners of critical infrastructure are already heavily regulated and don't need to be further burdened with additional supposedly voluntary regulations in the name of cybersecurity.

Extending the tax cuts keeps more money in the hands of citizens, where it can be invested into the economy, thus spurring economic growth. Of course, the deficits need to be eliminated, but the way to accomplish this is to cut spending, not increase taxes. (After the substitute amendment was rejected, the Senate passed Reid's bill to raise taxes for the "rich.")

The legislation would have a chilling effect on political free speech by exposing donors to threats and intimidation. Free speech is protected by the First Amendment, which makes no exceptions for anonymous political donors, stating simply: "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." In fact, some of the Founding Fathers engaged in anonymous free speech at times, such as when Madison, Jay, and Hamilton wrote The Federalist Papers under the pseudonym "Publius."

Much of the spending is unconstitutional.

The EPA is an unconstitutional agency created by executive order. It should not even exist, let alone engage in aerial surveillance for the purpose of detecting supposed violations of its regulations. Furthermore, while the surveillance is conducted from "public" airspace, so to speak, the air is not the subject of the surveillance. The use of the air is not unconstitutional, but the purpose of that use is unconstitutional, since it violates the Fourth Amendment protection against search of one's person, house, papers, and effects without probable cause and a warrant "particularly describing ... the persons or things to be seized."

S3240 Farm Bill (Passed 64 to 35 on 6/21/2012, Roll Call 164). Authorized federal farm and food assistance programs for five years. The programs include crop subsidies, food stamps, and foreign food aid.

North Korea is a totalitarian regime and foreign aid is unconstitutional.

The Constitution does not grant Congress the legislative power to acquire ownership of or conservation easement rights over large tracts of land within the states.

FDA censorship of health claims is a violation of the right to free speech protected by the First Amendment, and because the federal government is using armed agents to enforce unconstitutional regulations -- e.g., against the selling of raw milk.

The federal government has no constitutional authority risking taxpayers' money to provide loans the private sector considers too risky to provide. Indeed, U.S. government backed export financing is a form of corporate welfare, and if the Ex-Im Bank goes bust (as happened to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae), the taxpayers will get stuck holding the bag.

Amendment to S1813 Oil and Gas Development; Keystone XL Pipeline (Rejected 41 to 57 on 3/13/2012, Roll Call 38). Opens up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural-gas development, expand lease sales for offshore drilling, and approve the Keystone oil pipeline.

The government has no constitutional business rewarding government-favored business interests. Instead, the market should decide "winners" and "losers" in the energy sector, as in other sectors of the economy, to ensure that wasteful, harmful, or inefficient entities are kept to a minimum.

The federal government should allow entrepreneurs to develop energy resources, rather than deny access to the resources.

The EPA is unconstitutional and EPA regulations harm the economy. Though Collins' amendment would not have killed the boiler regulations, it would at least have delayed them.

To quote Thomas Jefferson, "No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority."

Amendment to S2038 Congressional Term Limits (Rejected 24 to 75 on 2/2/2012, Roll Call 11). Amendment to propose an amendment to the Constitution that limits the number of terms a Member of Congress may serve.

The federal government should live within its means and because most of the spending responsible for the ballooning national debt is unconstitutional.

Many of the bill's spending programs -- e.g., education, housing, foreign aid, etc. -- are unconstitutional, and the country is running trillion-dollar annual deficits.

The War on Terror must not be allowed to destroy legal protections stretching back to the Magna Carta.

Congress has no constitutional authority to fund many of the programs in the bill, including the farm programs, food programs, and housing (under HUD).

The federal government has no business serving as a gatekeeper for the Internet, and such a role could eventually threaten what has become an important public square for circulating ideas and information.

These rules will further damage the economy and also because the federal government has no constitutional authority to regulate power plant emissions.

Agreements such as this one are intended to transfer trade (and other) powers to super-national arrangements, despite the fact that under the Constitution only Congress has the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations."

The way to create jobs is not to provide them via government financing of certain sectors of the economy, but to reduce the government's burden on the economy.

Amendment to HR2832 Trade Promotion Authority (Rejected 45 to 55 on 9/20/2011, Roll Call 141). Amendment to reinstitute trade promotion authority through 2013 for the purpose of expediting approval of trade bills.

The debt deal allows both the national debt and spending to continue their upward trajectories.

There is no authority in the U.S. Constitution for redistributing American wealth to other countries.

The Constitution does not authorize the federal government to subsidize alternative energy sources.

Amendment to S990 Patriot Act (Firearms Purchase Records) (Tabled 85 to 10 on 5/26/2011, Roll Call 82). Amendment that would have banned the use of Patriot Act searches for American citizens' firearms records.

The extended provisions, and the Patriot Act as a whole, violate the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

There is no constitutional authority for the federal government to require individuals to purchase health insurance or to manage the healthcare industry.

HCR36 Planned Parenthood Defunding (Rejected 42 to 58 on 4/14/2011, Roll Call 60). Prohibits the use of any funding for Planned Parenthood.

Restricting greenhouse-gas emissions would be harmful to the economy, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are not pollutants, and the federal government has no constitutional authority to limit such emissions.

The burdensome 1099 reporting requirement was added to the ObamaCare legislation as a way to help pay for this unconstitutional program.

The U.S. Constitution assigns to Congress the power "to declare war."

The federal government has no constitutional authority to subsidize private airlines, and the free market should be allowed to determine which communities commercial airlines service, as well as the cost and extent of that service.

The 2010 healthcare overhaul law (PL 111-148 and 111-152), popularly known as ObamaCare, is unconstitutional. There is no constitutional authority for the federal government to require individuals to purchase health insurance or to manage the healthcare industry.