This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Kara Dunford.

Three U.S. congressmen joined members of the College Republicans as part of their Congressional Dinner Series in Mount Vernon’s Post Hall Tuesday night.

Congressmen Joe Wilson, R-S.C., Tom Price, R-Ga., and Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb. were the CRs guests for the evening, and much of the discussion focused on the health care debate that has, Fortenberry said, “consumed so much of the nation’s energy.”

The discussion centered on the problems with the proposed public health care option, a choice the three Republicans called a “terrible idea.”

“There are significant reforms that need to be undertaken. If you do this by shifting the financing to a government-run system, you’re not necessarily going to reduce costs,” Fortenberry said. “You’re not necessarily going to improve the outcomes nor are you going to address any of the fundamental questions of providing innovation, preserving the best of what we have or strengthening the opportunity of affordability.”

Price stressed the need to return to “the principles” in the debate. Without focusing on the right principles, he said, the best reform for the nation will be impossible to reach.

“If you think about what your principles are for healthcare, you’ve got three.  Accessibility, affordability and quality,” he said. “I add three to those. I add responsiveness, innovation and choices.”

Price critiqued the public option, saying that government intervention will limit accessibility, overshoot costs, decrease quality and constrict choices.

“I would suggest to you that whatever principles you have, none of them are improved by the further intervention of the federal government. Not one,” he said. “When you’re talking about having a government option for health care, what are you asking the government to do? You’re asking the government to do something that violates every one of your principles.”

Wilson– who recently made headlines when he shouted “You lie!” during President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress – expressed his frustration about the lack of Republican involvement in the crafting of the health care bill.

“The bill was presented to us as 1,018 pages. The next day we began debate at 1,040 pages. It was absurd. That was our introduction to the bill,” he said. “Republicans were not included. [Democrats] really tried to wear us out.”