Via Hot Air:
Top Democrats confirmed Saturday that the House would hold separate votes on the Senate healthcare bill and the reconciliation bill making fixes to it.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of the chief deputy whips, Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), all of whom said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won’t use the tactic of deem and pass for healthcare reform.
The move effectively kills the “deem and pass” strategy Democrats had been eying to make changes to the Senate bill through a rule on the bill, which at the same time would have deemed the original Senate healthcare bill to have passed the House.
The House appears set now to move toward an up-or-down vote on the Senate healthcare bill, as well as a separate, up-or-down vote on the series of changes to that bill. There will still be a vote on the rule, as there always is for a piece of legislation, though it will not package the two bills together.
This is good news and, well, bad news. Maybe. Good news because it means that Congress will actually give this abomination an up-or-down vote – something it should get. Though, getting it to the the President’s desk via the Slaughter Rule would have been interesting just because of the torrent of filings the Supreme Court would be hit with the moment Obama signed it.
Turns out some people take the Constitution seriously. I just wished the people who took an oath to protect and defend it in Washington did.
The bad news is that this could mean Pelosi has the votes she needs to pass the bill properly.
I guess we’ll find out in 12 1/2 hours if the United States is irrevocably damaged by moralizing nitwits and their ilk.
BTW: The bill is also a takeover of education too. I don’t hear that talked about very much. Yep, for some reason “health care reform” means eliminating private loans for college.
Statism begins with indoctrination of the young.
The very heart of the union is at stake with this vote. Anyone who says otherwise isn’t paying attention.
UPDATE:
It looks like as of the noon yesterday some 25,000 people had arrived at Capitol Hill to protest the bill. Here’s hoping the crowd at least doubles in size by noon today!
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One way or another…
It’s not going to happen the way Pelosi has been telling people.
I think she knows it, too.
My sister was on the hill all day yesterday. I’ve never seen her get so upset over anything in my life. She’s spent hours trying to defeat this bill. I wish I was in a postion to do more than make a phone call and write a letter. This bill scares me. Bought and paid for politicians are about to dictate what healthcare we are to get.
Since “deem and pass” was something Republicans themselves did back in the 1990s with the line-item veto, their credibility in opposing it now is sort of dodgy. That said, I suspect the leadership always believed that just by entertaining it they would rally some of their wavering troops to get it passed. I suspect it worked.
I for one am very much hoping it passes, for all its manifold flaws.
I think the single biggest flaw with it is how we got here.
Since “deem and pass” was something Republicans themselves did back in the 1990s with the line-item veto, their credibility in opposing it now is sort of dodgy.
F*** the Republicans. “Themselves” does not apply to my problems with it. One party being slimy does not justify the other party being worse.
I’m just saying, in terms of the debate in Congress, Republicans already weakened themselves by using this tactic themselves to get us the line item veto.
As I say, I think the real deal here is the Democratic leadership was simply pushing its members to make sure they knew how serious it would be. From my perspective, they’re doing themselves proud by nutting up and doing what they think is right regardless of how withering the criticism is.
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