Lynn A. Westmoreland: “Mr. Speaker, the Congress wields the power of the purse. It can declare war, it can create new laws, but it has no power…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Congress wields the power of the purse. It can declare war, it can create new laws, but it has no power to alter the laws of economics. No endeavor in the history of mankind has provided more consumer choice, more innovation and more advances than the invisible hand of market forces. As the country song says, everybody wants to drink the free bubble-up and eat the rainbow stew, but in the real world, economics determines how we divvy up finite resources. Under the current prescription drug plan, market forces have worked. Seniors get a choice of the drugs they need while at the same time the cost to taxpayers has come in billions below original estimates. Without doubt, government regulation of prices will limit prices, just as it does under the system used by the Veterans Administration. That is why more than a million veterans have signed up for a Medicare plan. H.R. 4 is another example of Democrats saying the government can make better decisions for the American people than the American people can for themselves. We offer choice; they offer smoke and mirrors and empty rhetoric. Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues vote ``no'' on H.R. 4.”