I recounted in August something 4th District Democratic Congressman David Price said at a Herald-Sun editorial board meeting in the ’90s. We were discussing the tactic of threatening to withhold federal funds from states in order to extract (extort?) policy change:
I asked Price how far he thought the federal government could go using this tactic to extract policy outcomes in states, and still have federalism, as it had traditionally been known, survive. Where would he draw the line on that kind of tactic?
“I don’t see a line,” he said.
The feds did it with speed limits and the drinking age, and now they’re trying it again:
The federal government is considering measures to pressure states to ban hands-free cell phone use by drivers. This is an over reaction to the problem of distracted driving. Bloomberg reports that officials of the U.S. Department of Transportation are working on a plan to ban all cell phone use by drivers of cars, including hands-free technology.
And how will they force states to enact these new laws? You guessed it. By threatening to withhold highway funds. It’s time for states to tell the federal government, and those who see no limits to federal power, to read the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and understand it.
