Rand Paul: “I look at it through two prisms. One, I look to see if it promotes freedom, and the other I look to see if it conforms…”

“I look at it through two prisms. One, I look to see if it promotes freedom, and the other I look to see if it conforms to the Constitution. Every piece of legislation I look at it in this manner. Now, the sad part is I do not get to vote for many bills. They come up short on quite a few occasions. So I want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) and the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson) for giving us a bill tonight that I can vote for enthusiastically. I finally found one, and I thank them very much. But in looking at the particular bill, one of the specific reasons why I oppose it, is I came to Congress opposing all welfare. Some people oppose welfare for the poor, but they support welfare for the rich. Others support welfare for the rich, but not for the poor; and some people support both kinds of welfare. I do not support any kind of welfare. This bill is needed to stop the indirect welfare through regulation for the rich and the pharmaceutical corporations. This is corporate welfare. That is one of the strong reasons why I am opposed to that. I also believe in freedom of choice. People have the right to make their own choices. We do not need to promote the nanny state.”