Update August 22nd: Here is the first report I’m seeing about yesterdays meeting. More later I hope. Here is The Tennessean story. More later!
Update August 20th: Open borders gang plans to be there in force, here. Also, apologies—I had said in my earlier version of this post that the big meeting is Thursday, that’s wrong it is Wednesday (tomorrow!).
Tennessee is likely the first state in the Nation to set up a model plan for regaining its State’s rights.
Surely some other states are doing their best to begin to wrest control from an over-reaching federal government, but none are coming out of the chute attempting to get under control the federal Refugee Resettlement Program where the US State Department and non-governmental contractors have foisted on the states the cost of caring for destitute people from the third world.
When the framers crafted the 10th Amendment, they surely never dreamed Washington would encroach on the states to the extent it has.
Here is what the 10th Amendment says:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
And surely, the framers could never have imagined a Federal Refugee program placing a financial and social burden on the citizens of certain states.
History will be made on Wednesday, August 21st in Nashville, TN
Below is an action alert from the Tennessee Eagle Forum which I’m posting in its entirety (emphasis is mine).
First for background on the new legislative committee:
Legislators and their constituents have long expressed concerns about the interactions and affects of federal actions on the manner in which our state government operates, or which could have a potential impact on the rights and privileges of the citizens of Tennessee.
Many had been wrestling for some time with the best way to address this very important issue of providing an established venue to examine these actions.
Rep. Judd Matheny (who came up with idea) and Sen. Mike Bell, Chairmen of the respective Senate and House Government Operations Committees went to the respective speakers seeking their support to establish a subcommittee of the Joint Government Operations Committee that would be authorized to review both introduced and enacted federal legislation, rules and regulations and executive orders, then report any relevant findings to the speakers, members of the General Assembly and Congressional delegation. Then decisions could be made about what actions might be appropriate moving forward.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Speaker Beth Harwell agreed to this plan and the subcommittee was established. As far as we know, Tennessee is the first state to provide this kind of venue for the review of federal actions. We can only hope that other states will follow our lead! You can read the letter of authorization HERE.
Members of this committee are:
Rep. Judd Matheny, Chairman, Rep. John Ragan, Rep. Joe Carr, Rep. Josh Evans, Rep. Mike Turner, Sen. Mike Bell, Sen. Janice Bowling, Sen. Ferrell Haile, Sen. Thelma Harper, Sen. Jim Summerville.
This joint committee will hold their FIRST meeting on August 21st, at 9:00 am in Room 16 at Legislative Plaza. It is VITAL that we demonstrate support for the important work of this committee by filling the room with folks that support the 10th Amendment. The first issue that the committee will take up is the FEDERAL COST SHIFTING OF THE REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM. Please make your plans to attend!!
Refugee Resettlement has been a hot-button issue and glaring example of where Tennesseans believe the federal government has gone too far.
The Tennessee Eagle Forum alert continues:
At what level of taxpayer support for an entity do we stop calling that entity a “non-government organization” or a “religious nonprofit”?
Revenue in 2011 for Migration and Refugee Services, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) refugee contracting arm, was more than $72 million, about 98 percent of which came from the taxpayer in the form of government grants or federal contracts. Would it surprise anyone to find it subject to the same incentives and laws of behavior that have driven federal contractors since the birth of the republic?
USCCB’s main source of contracts and grants comes from refugee resettlement. The U.S. resettles nearly three times the refugees as the rest of the industrialized world combined, and the USCCB wants that number increased.
According to a recent report from the Washington think tank Migration Policy Institute (MPI), publicly funded private resettlement agencies, USCBB being the largest of nine, “meet with state and local agencies on a quarterly basis regarding the opportunities and services available to refugees in local communities and the ability of these communities to accommodate new arrivals. They also consult with the state refugee coordinator on placement plans for each local site. … If a state opposes the plan, the State Department will not approve it.” [LOL! In theory!—ed}
A July 2012 GAO report was a little more real world than the MPI report stating that “Most resettlement agencies … consult with some public entities such as state refugee coordinators; however, most public entities such as public schools and health departments generally said that agencies notified them of the number of refugees expected to arrive in the coming year, but did not consult them regarding the number of refugees they could serve…”
Both reports assume a state government role in the resettlement process. The state refugee coordinator evaluates the plans of the private contractors, representing the interests of the taxpayer in the process. That’s the way it is supposed to work, in theory.
In Tennessee, however, the state refugee coordinator is an employee of Catholic Charities, an affiliate of USCCB. Resettlement of the U.N.-selected refugees is Tennessee Catholic Charities’ largest mission and largest revenue item by far.
In 2008, Gov. Phil Bredesen thought he was streamlining the process and saving money by outsourcing the state coordinator function to the contractor. Instead, he gave up the opportunity for the state to have any input in a process that affects the state and set up a textbook illustration of a conflict of interest.
The annual cost of the program to Tennesseans went up immediately after the state handed over the position of state refugee coordinator. Today, Metro Nashville alone resettles more refugees than each of 29 states in the U.S.
Read on! This is the op-ed published by Don Barnett in The Tennessean ten days ago.
If you are anywhere near Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday, please give your support to the work of the citizen activists and attend this important and history-making event!
For more information on Tennessee, and Nashville specifically, please see our “Nashville” category. And, be sure to visit this post from this past February about how the contractors, the US State Department, and the religious Left are busy turning ‘red’ states ‘blue’ by changing the demographic make-up of its citizens.