[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4063]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       THE GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTH CARE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the Constitution of the United States 
of America was written by our Founding Fathers to limit the size of 
government. The Constitution sets limits on what the government can do 
for us and what the government can do to us.
  The people decide what is best for themselves and our country, not 
the all-seeing eye of the Federal Government. James Monroe said in 1788 
at the Virginia convention to ratify the United States Constitution, 
How prone all human institutions have been to decay, how difficult it 
has been for mankind in the ages and countries to preserve their 
dearest rights and best privileges, imperiled as they were by an 
irresistible fate of tyranny.
  Now the tyrannical all-seeing eye of the Federal Government is trying 
to take care of us. The government doesn't think we know how to take 
care of ourselves, so it must come in and take care of us. We are to be 
made subjects incapable of taking care of our own health. Nowhere in 
the Constitution is the Federal Government given any authority to 
control the people's health, not one place.
  George Washington didn't fight the redcoats so people could be the 
subjects of the new, oppressive, and untrustworthy Federal bureaucracy. 
The colonists didn't die in the War of Independence so a health care 
czar could rule over us.
  The government takeover of health care is unconstitutional. And if 
this bill passes, the Texas attorney general and 30 other State 
attorneys general are prepared to sue the Federal Government for an 
exercise of unconstitutional action because this bill is 
unconstitutional. It forces Americans to buy health insurance against 
their will. And if people don't buy the insurance, they will face fines 
or go to jail. And on top of that, it forces people to buy government-
approved health insurance. That means the Feds tell people they have to 
buy the Federal-approved insurance, and it tells them what insurance 
they must buy. That's not allowed under any stretch of the law or 
imagination. That is unconstitutional.
  And of course, in this bill they are hiring 16,000 new IRS health 
care police to enforce that dictate. The IRS health care police will 
verify that American citizens have acceptable health care insurance 
every month. I say American citizens because illegals are exempt from 
paying health care fines and taxes, although illegals can receive 
coverage in this bill. The health care bill also violates the people's 
right to privacy. People's most secret, private, intimate medical 
records will become the property of the U.S. Government.
  Health care busybody bureaucrats will burrow through private medical 
records and decide what medical care people are allowed to have. Health 
care bureaucrats will stick their nose into private banking accounts 
and their records to decide how much people have to pay for that health 
insurance. They will be able to seize tax refunds, bank accounts, 
garnished wages all in the name of forcing people to buy insurance for 
their own good. And of course, this is in the bill.
  This power grab is not about health, and it's certainly not about 
care. It's about liberty. It's about Federal Government control over 
people's lives against their will. The Federal Government has no right 
to dictate to the people their health care needs. And in my opinion, 
it's unconstitutional. Most of the American people oppose the 
government plan to take over this health care. There were thousands of 
people here today making their voices known that they are opposed to 
this bill. It costs too much, it borrows too much, it taxes too much, 
it's inefficient, and it gives government bureaucrats the control of 
our medical decisions.
  Even Thomas Jefferson talked about government-run health care. He 
said, ``If people let government decide what foods they eat and what 
medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as 
are the souls of those who live under tyranny.''
  Mr. Speaker, government-run health care is unconstitutional, and it's 
unhealthy for everyone. We must remember the Constitution says and 
begins with ``We the People,'' not ``We the Subjects.''
  And that's just the way it is.

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