[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 31843]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           A BOX OF DOUGHNUTS

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, requiring Americans to buy health 
insurance or pay a fine or even go to jail if the fine tax is unpaid is 
utterly without constitutional authority. Under the Constitution, a 
citizen has no affirmative duty to purchase a mandated congressional 
product. Citizens have the right to do nothing.
  The bruisers of the Constitution claim people must buy car insurance. 
That analogy is flawed. First, States, not Congress, have authority 
under the 10th Amendment that is not given to Congress. Second, driving 
is a privilege, not a right, and to exercise that privilege, a driver 
must buy insurance. But no one is forced to drive a car. Third, car 
insurance is to protect a third party from the driver. No State 
requires a driver to buy insurance for themselves.
  A better analogy would be, in the name of promoting commerce, forcing 
all people to buy a car whether they wanted to or not, whether they 
could afford it or not, or be punished. Congress, by force, requiring 
all people to buy a product, whether it's health insurance or a car or 
even a box of doughnuts is unconstitutional and abuse of congressional 
authority.
  And that's just the way it is.

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