Republicans Will Get Only 30 Minutes on House Floor to Debate Slaughter Rule

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) – Under the standard procedures of the House of Representatives, Republicans will get only 30 minutes on the House floor to debate the special "rule" being prepared by House Rules Chairman Louise Slaughter (D.-N.Y.) that would deem the Senate health care bill passed in the House without an actual vote on the bill as required by Article I, Section VII of the Constitution.

Under Slaughter's plan, the House would pass a special rule governing debate on a budget reconciliation bill being crafted to make "fixes" in the Senate health care bill desired by House Democrats. Under this rule, the Senate health care bill itself would be "deemed" to have passed the House if the full House of Representatives subsequently passes the budget reconciliation bill.

A majority of the House would have to vote in favor of the Slaughter Rule and then in favor of the reconciliation bill for the Senate health care bill to be considered passed. But House members would never actually vote on the 2,074-page Senate health care bill itself or have their votes on that bill recorded in the official record of the chamber as required by the Constitution.

The Slaughter Rule is expected to be brought up on the House floor later this week. In order for the House to take up the reconciliation bill, it must first debate and approve the Slaugher Rule. During that debate, under the normal procedures of the House, Republican members will be allowed only 30 minutes to publicly air their views on the rule and to try to persuade their Democratic colleagues not to circumvent the constitutional requirements for passing a bill into law.

β€œIt [the rule] would go to the floor and it would be debated for an hour--30 minutes each side,β€