CQ Weekly: Congress's Stalled Crusade Against Eminent Domain Seizures

Congress' Stalled Crusade Against Eminent Domain Seizures

By Shawn Zeller, CQ Staff

Where’s the outrage? When the Supreme Court ruled last summer that governments could use their eminent domain powers to seize private property in the name of economic development, Congress clamored on both sides of the aisle to register its dissent.

The House quickly adopted a resolution condemning the Kelo v. City of New London decision — which doomed a working-class neighborhood in Connecticut to the wrecking ball to make way for a higher-priced residential and shopping development. The House followed that up by adding a rider to an appropriations bill that barred the use of federal funds to enforce the Supreme Court’s ruling —and finally, by passing a bill in November that would deny some federal funding to local governments that seize private property for economic development.

But the Senate hasn’t rallied nearly so briskly to the anti-Kelo cause, and a coalition of mostly conservative groups is seeking to bring fresh momentum to the bills stalled there.Click here for the full article