THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW – March 18, 2010

House May Bypass Direct Vote
by: Yana Kunichoff
truthout|Report

As the clock ticks toward a late-week House vote promised
by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Democrats consider
the possibility of passing the Senate version of the health
care bill without a direct vote.

This procedure, known as a “deem-and-pass” or a “self-
executing rule,” would allow the House to vote on a
package of more popular “fixes”‘ to the Senate bill – when
these are passed, the Senate bill is also “deemed” passed.

Though it is one of three options under consideration for
the coming House vote, Pelosi said she prefers it, as it
would politically protect legislators who are reluctant to
publicly support the bill. “It’s more insider and process-
oriented than most people want to know,” the speaker said
in a roundtable discussion with bloggers Monday. “But I
like it because people don’t have to vote on the Senate
bill.”

The measure has been painted by Republican opponents as
unconstitutional as well as a move to avoid potentially
stigmatizing public affiliation with an unpopular measure.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said,
“anyone who endorses this strategy will be forever
remembered for trying to claim they didn’t vote for some-
thing they did.”

However, a memo released by the House Rules Committee on
Tuesday morning, defending the historical nature of the
deem-and-pass rules, noted that the tactic has been used
“far more often by Republicans than Democrats” over the
years.

“For starters, despite what the minority may claim, the
precedent for adopting a resolution and at the same time
concurring in a Senate amendment to a bill was set back
in 1933,” the rules memo stated. The measure has been
used numerous times over the past 20 years, although
never to pass legislation as large as the $875 billion
health care bill.

However, the question for Congressional Democrats is
whether it is passing the bill or passing on the bill
that could be more detrimental to them in the upcoming
elections. Along with renewed pressure by progressive
advocacy groups to include a public option, President
Obama has been meeting separately with undecided
Democrats to persuade them to support the bill.

According to Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and
former adviser to Bill Clinton, if the Democrats fail
to pass the health care legislation, they will lose the
House in upcoming election. However, “if they pass health
care, they go into a tough environment, but they have an
accomplishment, plus one that will provide benefits.”

————————————————————
Follow Your Favorite GopherCentral Publications on Twitter:
http://www.gophertweets.com/ More Coming Soon!
————————————————————

End of PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
Copyright 2010 by NextEra Media. All rights reserved.