Kelo and the Power of the Purse Strings

I just heard on the television that a bi-party group of Congressmen is proposing legislation that would deny federal funds to any government entity that abused the power of eminent domain a la New London.

Nancy Pelosi was the only one fretting about it on camera. ('But that would tend to nullify the Supreme Court's decision,' she said, or words to that effect, radiating concern, looking confused, and as if that was not the main point - indeed the openly stated point - of the proposed legislative move, and as if the control of the purse by Congress isn't one of those "checks and balances of power" factors that is supposed to kick in now and then.)

More later, when I have time to follow up.

UPDATE: Not the legislation, but a Resolution, from June 24, 2005, "Expressing the grave disapproval of the House of Representatives regarding the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in the case of Kelo et al. v. City of New London et al..."

UPDATE: This story by Todd J. Gillman of the Dallas Morning News tries to paint this as a Tom DeLay anti-judiciary project (augh!), and it stabs at DeLay for trying to save Terri Schiavo's life (double augh!), for that matter it describes that battle as "the fight over Terri Schiavo's feeding tube" ("augh" isn't strong enough for what I think about that dehumanizing crack), but it's the best I've come up with so far. And it does relay something I think is key to this matter:

Backlash to the eminent domain case, though, is far more broad-based.

Some of Congress' most liberal members have signed on. The lead sponsor is Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., but Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is also on board.

So is Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who said she's more worried about the "outrageous" threat to home owners - especially the poor and powerless - than about abetting DeLay's anti-judge agenda.

"Your home is a precious possession and it should be protected by government, not taken to give to a private party," she said. "For those who would like to use it as a political bludgeon, that's their politics, not my politics."

How would you like to be a grabby urban planner facing down this coalition? Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me this looks like a very, very broad-based coalition.

UPDATE: Here's a Fox News story. As of post time, there was also a video link.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has comments and links. Betsy's Page has a Pelosi post and a follow-up post on newspeople tidying up Pelosi's remarks for publication and a link to a New York Times article on eminent domain.

UPDATE: Mike Allen and Charles Babington of the Washington Post file a report.