Jeb Hensarling: “I rise tonight to appeal to my fellow conservatives to open markets and help seniors by supporting this act. Some…”

“I rise tonight to appeal to my fellow conservatives to open markets and help seniors by supporting this act. Some critics say this act will merely import price controls. But every day in America we import a myriad of products from food to machinery that have some form of government price controls embedded within them, be they subsidy, tax preference or direct price controls. Yet we do not block their import even though their prices are not derived in a truly free market. The relevant question for us ought to be: are we working for more competition or less competition and whether or not we respect the economic liberties of our citizens. Now, other critics say this bill will cause less research and development. I am uncertain if this is true, but I do know that closing our borders to trade and denying Americans their economic liberties is not the answer. Typically, we let private individuals within a competitive marketplace make these R&D decisions. If we choose to second guess them and believe that they have underinvested, then Congress can easily remedy the situation by a variety of means, like tax credits and subsidies. This body does it every day, wind energy, aerospace technology, semiconductors, the list goes on. Finally, critics contend that seniors will be hurt by a rash of counterfeit imported drugs. Are thousands dying in Europe and Canada from fake drugs? Can counterfeit drugs not be produced domestically as well as overseas?”