Joe Barton: “Mr. Speaker, we are here today because the existing law of the land on health care is fatally flawed. Most of us think…”

“Mr. Speaker, we are here today because the existing law of the land on health care is fatally flawed. Most of us think it is unconstitutional. We think it is overreaching. We think the Federal Government is intervening more and more into the daily practice of health care between the doctor-patient relationship. And we think it needs to be repealed before it does irreparable harm to our health care system, which is the best in the world. We think that on basic principles it's unconstitutional. We believe that you shouldn't have the Federal Government mandate that an individual has to have health insurance, whether he or she wants it. That particular constitutional question is wending its way through the courts and we hope soon to have an answer to that question. We want to repeal today so that we can begin to replace tomorrow. We want to deliver on our Pledge to America that we meant it when we said if the American voters gave us the majority, we would repeal this existing law, and that is step one.”