Scott Brown

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.

invoking cloture would have permitted a vote on, and certain passage of, the unconstitutional DISCLOSE Act to restrict the free speech rights of corporations, unions, and special interest groups.

Invoking cloture would have permitted a vote on, and likely approval of, the DREAM Act amendment to provide amnesty to certain groups of illegal immigrants.

Invoking cloture would have permitted a vote on an amendment to repeal the highly unpopular 1099 IRS reporting provision of the unconstitutional ObamaCare law.

The federal government has no constitutional authority to pay for healthcare for the poor or to fund education. Also, there is no statistical evidence showing that federal involvement in education has increased learning -- though it certainly has increased federal bureaucracy and control.

Kagan is not committed to adhering to the original intent of the Constitution in her judicial decisions. Instead, her public record indicates that she is a legal positivist who will interpret law based on her own ideological bent and effectively revise and rewrite law by judicial fiat.

The estate tax should be permanently eliminated.

Amendment to HR4213 Arizona Immigration Law (Rejected 43 to 55 on 7/21/2010, Roll Call 214). Offered a measure to recommit the bill to the Judiciary Committee with instructions to include language that no funds in any provision of law may be used to participate in a lawsuit against Arizona's immigration law.

Ramping up regulatory control of the financial sector by the Fed and the federal government is not only unconstitutional but will make it exceedingly more difficult for the economy to recover.

SJR26 Greenhouse Gas Regulation (Rejected 47 to 53 on 6/10/2010, Roll Call 184). Would disapprove an Environmental Protection Agency endangerment finding that greenhouse gases may be regulated as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. 

The spending is over and above what the federal government already budgeted for the current fiscal year, Congress never declared war against Iraq and Afghanistan, and some of the spending (e.g., foreign aid) is unconstitutional.

More government control of the economy will do more harm than good.

S3217 Audit the Fed (Rejected 37 to 52 on 5/11/2010, Roll Call 138). Amendment to audit the Federal Reserve.

The federal government has no constitutional authority to manage the healthcare industry.

Raising the national debt limit allows the federal government to borrow more money and continue its gross fiscal irresponsibility.

The economic havoc Bernanke is accountable for at the Fed, a central bank that should not even exist.

HR3590 ObamaCare (Passed 60 to 39 on 12/24/2009, Roll Call 396). Popularly known as "ObamaCare," this bill essentially completed the government takeover of the American healthcare system.

Requiring Americans to buy a particular product -- health insurance in this instance -- is both unconstitutional and an abridgment of economic freedom. The same day, the Senate also rejected by 39-60 a point of order raised by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison that the legislation violates the 10th Amendment.

HR3288 Omnibus Appropriations (Passed 57 to 35 on 12/13/2009, Roll Call 374). Comprised of six appropriations bills that Congress failed to complete separately. The price tag in the final version of HR3288 is $1.1 trillion.

Amendment to HR3590 Abortion (Passed 54 to 45 on 12/8/2009, Roll Call 369). Offered an amendment to prohibit the use of any funding authorized by the bill to pay for abortions or for health plans that cover abortions, except in cases of rape or incest or to protect the mother.

Spending needs to be cut, not increased.

The majority of funding in the bill is unconstitutional and wasteful.

The Department of Energy is not authorized by the Constitution.

Federal aid to farmers and federal food aid to individuals are not authorized by the Constitution.

Virtually every dollar assigned to this bill, whether it is for transportation or housing assistance, is unconstitutional and unaffordable.

Federal government funding of community organizations is not authorized by the Constitution.

Judge Sotomayor is not committed to adhering to the original intent of the Constitution in her judicial decisions.

The federal government should not be subsidizing the car industry and because it is unconstitutional and wasteful.

This legislation would further federalize the criminal code, as well as punish not only criminal acts but the thoughts behind them.

Subordination of U.S. sovereignty to international law and international organizations would undermine the Constitution.

The spending is over and above what the federal government had already budgeted, the United States never declared war against Iraq and Afghanistan, and some of the spending (e.g., Cash for Clunkers and foreign aid) is unconstitutional.

Foreign aid is unconstitutional, and this is deficit spending.

The spending is over and above what the federal government had already budgeted, Congress never declared war against Iraq and Afghanistan, and some of the spending (e.g., foreign aid) is unconstitutional.

Much of the budget is unconstitutional (e.g., foreign aid, education, healthcare, etc.), and the federal government should end deficit spending and live within its means.

National-service programs are not authorized by the Constitution.

Reinstituting the Fairness Doctrine would be an unconstitutional infringement on the right to free speech.

Article 1 Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states, "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states." The District of Columbia is not a state, and can only become a state (and be entitled to representation in Congress) via a constitutional amendment.

Much of the spending would be unconstitutional and government cannot stimulate the economy by draining money from the private sector.

Federal healthcare programs are unconstitutional and would likely lower the quality of healthcare.

Foreign aid is unconstitutional and the amendment would have helped to protect the right to life.

The Constitution does not authorize Congress to grant financial aid or loans to private companies, i.e., banks and automakers.