Thread: Republicans Battle Pelosi Over Plan to Pass Bill wo/Trad. Vo

Updated March 16, 2010

Republicans Battle Pelosi Over Plan to Pass Health Bill Without Traditional Vote

FOXNews.com

Republicans and Democrats are locked in an unusual battle over how to vote on the health care reform package, as House Republicans try to block Speaker Nancy Pelosi from using a legislative trick that would allow rank-and-file Democrats to vote for the health care bill without really voting for the health care bill.

Republicans and Democrats are locked in an unusual battle over how to vote on the health care reform package, as House Republicans try to block Speaker Nancy Pelosi from using a legislative trick that would allow rank-and-file Democrats to vote for the health care bill without really voting for the health care bill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed Democrats on the floor Tuesday for even considering the tactic, which he called "extraordinary."

House Republicans plan to introduce a resolution that would require a "straight" vote in the House on the Senate-approved health care plan, to ensure everyone goes on the record as for or against the bill.

But Pelosi and Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, are cooking up a plan to pass the original health bill from the Senate side without forcing rank-and-file Democrats to technically go on record in support of it.

Democratic leaders are considering the option because many House Democrats don't want to cast a vote in favor of the Senate bill, which they oppose for numerous reasons. Problem is, the House must pass the Senate bill in order to move on to the package of changes intended to correct all the things about the Senate bill that House members don't like.

Enter the Pelosi tactic, known as a "self-executing rule."

Under this tactic, the House could simultaneously approve the Senate version of the bill while voting on the package of changes. This would "deem" the Senate bill passed, though not directly show members voting in favor of passage.

It may sound murky, but the option is winning favor among Democrats.

"It is one of the ways that's being discussed," House Democratic Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., told Fox News, rebutting criticism.

"There's been a vote in the Senate. They got 60 votes for this," Clyburn said Tuesday. "This is nothing unusual. There's no trickery here at all."

The maneuver is not rare, though it's not typically used for something so sweeping and high-profile. The House most recently used the tactic to raise the debt limit while simultaneously passing a measure requiring the chamber to pay for the measures it approves.

Pelosi reportedly told liberal bloggers Monday that "nobody wants to vote for the Senate bill," and so she's strongly considering the non-vote vote.

"I like it, because people don't have to vote on the Senate bill," she said.

But Republicans were fuming. The consideration of the "self-executing rule" comes after Democrats moved to consider the package of changes under rules that would allow the Senate to pass the bill with just 51 votes, as opposed to the usual 60.

"Anyone who believes they can send this bill to the president without being tarred by it is delusional," McConnell said Tuesday. "Anyone who endorses this strategy will be forever remembered for trying to claim they didn't vote for something they did. It will go down as one of the most extraordinary legislative sleights of hand in history."

House Republican Leader John Boehner's office said in a statement that Democrats shouldn't need "gimmicks" to pass the health bill.

"Democrats wonder why people are so upset with Washington," the statement said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03 ... itics%2529

This is really a battle between Democrats and their constituents. I continue to be amazed at how corrupt this party has become.

The Democrats arent even controlled by Democrats. They are controlled by Communists...

"Pelosi reportedly told liberal bloggers Monday that "nobody wants to vote for the Senate bill," and so she's strongly considering the non-vote vote.

""I like it, because people don't have to vote on the Senate bill," she said."

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No one wants to vote for the bill they all claim Americans want?

You can't write stand-up comedy this funny or this dangerous when it's coming out of the mouth of the US Congress instead of a comedian in a comedy theater.

Pathetic.

Evidently some Republicans are battling harder than others....

GOP Rules Chief Resigned to Letting Dems Make Obamacare the Law Without Actually Voting on It

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

By Matt Cover, Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Rules Committee, indicated yesterday that he was resigned to letting congressional Democrats make the Senate health-care bill the law of the land without ever holding a vote on it in the House of Representatives by passing a rule governing debate on another bill, the budget reconciliation, that "deems" the health care bill as passed.

Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution, however, expressly states that for any bill to beome law "the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by the yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively." After that, under the Constitution, the president must either sign the bill or hold it for ten days (not counting Sundays), after which it will become law unless Congress adjourns in the interim.

Constitutional scholars have said that what the Democrats may try to do by making the Senate health care bill law without ever voting on it in the House is unconstitutional and could spark a constitutional crisis far worse than Watergate.

Dreier, who is the top House Republican responsible for making sure that Congress follows legitimate rules of procedure, told reporters yesterday that he is not a constitutional expert and that he had not spoken personally to any constitutional experts about the issue. He did say he had indirectly gotten "input" from such experts.

“If this passes and is signed into law, I think it becomes law,â€

If this is the case, then those spineless Democrat Representatives should be called out for why they didn't oppose this "deeming" strategy.....and not just be allowed to duck out w/o voting.

(deleted)

What in the world! Why would he not fight it?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dreier

New statement from Dreier:

Top Rules Committee Republican: I Will Do Everything I Can to Stop Outrageous Slaughter Rule

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

(CNSNews.com) – House Rules Committee Ranking Republican David Dreier (Calif.) said he is committed to doing “everything I possibly canâ€