IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1587 
Recognizing that the cause of liberty demands that government should be 
made accountable again to the consent of the governed, and calling 
for the real decentralization of power through the restoration of American 
federalism. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2010 
Mr. BISHOP of Utah (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. 
LAMBORN, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. MCCLIN-
TOCK, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. PENCE, Mr. 
PRICE of Georgia, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. PITTS, Mr. LATTA, Mr. BART-
LETT, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. 
GRAVES of Georgia, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, and Mrs. MCMORRIS ROD-
GERS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing that the cause of liberty demands that govern-
ment should be made accountable again to the consent 
of the governed, and calling for the real decentralization 
of power through the restoration of American federalism. 
Whereas this is a Nation of States, and federalism is central 
to the structure of government and the very definition of 
American constitutionalism; 
Whereas as James Madison famously noted in The Fed-
eralist, ‘‘The powers delegated by the proposed Constitu-
tion to the federal government are few and defined’’, and 
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that ‘‘Those which are to remain in the State govern-
ments are numerous and indefinite.’’; 
Whereas throughout American history and the laws of the 
United States, most powers of government and as a re-
sult the decisions that affect citizens’ day-to-day lives 
were to be made at the State level; 
Whereas the relationship between the Federal Government, 
the several States, and the sovereign people is summed 
up most succinctly in the Tenth Amendment, ‘‘The pow-
ers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu-
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to 
the States respectively, or to the people.’’; 
Whereas the structural division of powers and functions be-
tween the Federal Government and the several States 
provides a double security against abusive government by 
causing each level of government to check the other in 
the name of upholding the rights and protecting the lib-
erties of the people of the United States; 
Whereas in recognizing and protecting a sphere of State au-
tonomy and local self-government, federalism has ex-
panded liberty, accommodated a vast diversity of opin-
ions, and fostered an extensive array of policy innovations 
in addressing and solving many of the Nation’s greatest 
challenges; 
Whereas ever-increasing amounts of regulations and laws 
emanating from the Federal Government, occurring in 
stages over the whole course of the 20th century but 
gathering particular momentum with the expansion of 
regulatory government in the 1960s, have centralized and 
bureaucratized political rule in the United States, under-
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mining the balance of federalism and threatening self- 
government; 
Whereas under the current Administration, the ideology of 
big government has found a new voice and a new spon-
sor, and the results, from massive spending to the take-
over of whole industries to new regulatory initiatives to 
the explosion of debt, have been especially threatening 
and destructive to the idea and structural integrity of 
federalism; 
Whereas in an atmosphere where courts and the executive 
seem to be moving in the opposite direction, a new Con-
gress must take upon itself the responsibility to limit the 
scope of Federal powers and extend the ability of the sev-
eral States to assert their legitimate powers, and thereby 
provide for the dynamism, opportunities, and creativity 
needed to solve problems, foster prosperity, and get the 
United States moving in the right direction; and 
Whereas there are many policy areas that have become Fed-
eral Government concerns but are better dealt with at the 
State and local levels of government, the devolution of 
which will provide the dynamism, opportunities, and cre-
ativity in solving problems and fostering prosperity in the 
United States: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That— 
(1) the House of Representatives— 
(A) recognizes that the cause of liberty de-
mands that government should be made ac-
countable again to the consent of the governed, 
bringing it closer to the people and returning to 
them control over their lives while making it 
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better able to solve their problems and serve 
their common good; and 
(B) recognizes the historic and continuing 
importance of federalism and reaffirms its com-
mitment to safeguard and uphold constitutional 
government as defined by the Tenth Amend-
ment to the United States Constitution; and 
(2) it is the sense of the House of Representa-
tives that— 
(A) this situation requires, and the very 
future of freedom and limited government de-
pends on, a restoration of American federalism 
and a real decentralization of government power 
and vast areas of policymaking from the Fed-
eral Government to States, local communities, 
neighborhoods, families, and individual citizens; 
and 
(B) while recognizing that the restoration 
of federalism will require a widespread and ex-
tensive restructuring of Federal Government 
operations and that not all or even most of the 
solutions come from the national capital, the 
best path toward achieving the goal of real 
structural reform is through practical but sig-
nificant policy reforms that will allow the sev-
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