Today's meeting with our congressional delegation and the tenth amendment

Today Colorado's congressional delegation came to the capitol to meet with state legislators. Markey and Salazar were not there. The senators sent representatives from their offices as the senate is in session. These meetings are a good idea. I'd say essential. I hope we do it more, and I told them as much.

I asked them about their thoughts on proposing amendments to the constitution specifically for the purpose of restraining the expansion of federal power as it relates to the role of the states; to restore the proper balance in our federal system. I explained in so many words my view that many citizens feel the role of the states has been undermined by the federal government, and that the tenth amendment is largely being ignored. I pointed out that this has been happening under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

I suggested states are becoming little more than administrative outposts of the federal government. I went on to make the point that this is not the original intent of the founders who designed the federal system to function with more tension between the states and the federal government, each having its own proper roles and proper powers. The state's role is fading and the fed's is growing. This should not be so.

Reps Coffman and Lamborn both indicated that a convention is fraught with risk (they are certainly right about that), but they both supported a balanced budget amendment to the constitution which would be a major step in putting a check on the expansion of Washington's excessive power.

Rep. DeGette took exception to Coffman and Lamborn's excoriation of the big spending spending habits of the federal government. She seemed to indicate that congress' big spending had more to do with the war than on any inherent spending problem congress may have. Uh, OK.

Rep. Polis didn't respond.

Rep. Perlmutter asked for examples of federal power grabs. The chair didn't give me a chance to respond. So I'll be sending Rep. Permutter a letter. It will be lengthy. To his credit, he'll likely read it and respond. To his great discredit, for him to even make this request implies that examples of this are anything less than self-evident to nearly everyone. To me, his request also insinuates that the majority of people actually believe congress is behaving with fiscal restraint. I'm quite certain this is not the case. But, he is a supporter of Obamacare after all.