Hutchison bad for land owners

Senator supports federal government taking land from private citizens

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s support for big-government takeovers is not limited to approving billion-dollar bailouts for Wall Street bankers, insurance companies, and the automobile industry. She also supports the federal government taking private property from American citizens.

On Sept. 24, 2009, Sen. Hutchison opposed an amendment by Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn to protect land owners and prohibit the federal government from spending $400 million during the next year to acquire additional private property. Among those who supported Sen. Coburn’s initiative to prohibit using these funds for further government acquisition were Texas’ other senator, John Cornyn, and senators from other agriculture-rich states including Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

“This is another example of Sen. Hutchison saying one thing in Texas and doing another in Washington,” said Texans for Rick Perry spokesman Mark Miner. “She talks about protecting property on the campaign trail in Texas, yet she votes to take property when she is in Washington. The Senator continues to run a campaign of contradictions.”

One week after supporting $400 million for federal land acquisition, Sen. Hutchison did nothing to stop the federal government from withdrawing $742 million in federal highway funding previously provided to Texas.

Over the past 10 years, Congress has appropriated more than $2 billion to increase federal land holdings. The federal government is largest landholder in the United States and now controls more than 29 percent of our nation’s land, with that amount increasing every year. The government’s land stockpile is equivalent to the total combined land of 27 states, with the government owning nearly one in three acres nationwide and one of every two in the West.