Ted Poe: “The issue is, is this constitutional? It's not whether it's a great idea, whether an individual mandate is going to save…”

“The issue is, is this constitutional? It's not whether it's a great idea, whether an individual mandate is going to save us all. The issue is whether it's constitutional. Now I do not believe the Constitution gives the Federal Government the authority to force an American to buy anything, whether it's health care insurance, whether it's a car, or whether it's a box of doughnuts. And if we allow the Congress to go in and force Americans to buy a product or be punished by paying a fee which is a fine, and if you don't pay the fine, you could be prosecuted under the IRS code and go to prison, then where does it stop? Where does Congress then stop its nonsense of forcing Americans to buy products all in the name of saving us all? This portion is unconstitutional. We should not force Americans to buy any product. And we should defund the individual mandate for the simple reason it's unconstitutional.”