Testimony showed that asset forfeiture has nothing to do with stopping drugs and crime and is instead used to fill the coffers of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. We're told Hyde wants the bill brought to the floor for a full House vote as quickly as possible.
Local police keep nothing.
Our treasured liberties are at stake in this controversy. Read the above paragraph again, carefully. Asset forfeiture is prohibited by the Constitution and according to Hyde, those prohibitions are confirmed by existing law. During the Civil War forfeiture was used by the U.S. government to confiscate property of Southern rebels and their sympathizers. The power to declare war involves the power to prosecute it by all means and in any manner in which war may be legitimately prosecuted.