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Speaker Pelosi Now Commits to a Straight Up-Or-Down Vote to Enact the Senate Health Care Bill, Including the Cornhusker Kickback and All the Rest

By: AndrewHyman (Diary)  |  March 20th, 2010 at 03:24 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The illegal “deem and pass” Slaughter Solution is now officially dead.  Tomorrow (Sunday), the House is scheduled to first vote on the Reconciliation Bill, which would not become law unless and until it is approved by the Senate.  The House would then vote on the Senate Bill which would become law immediately upon being signed by the President.

By voting on the Reconciliation Bill first, it appears that the later vote on the Senate Bill would amend the Reconciliation Bill, which is kind of bizarre.

So, now we have to wait and see whether Democratic House members are willing to unambiguously vote for the Cornhusker Kickback, the NARAL-demanded abortion language, and all the other obnoxious stuff in the Senate Bill.  Some of that stuff would probably be removed during the reconciliation process, but that’s not a sure thing.  We’ll see whether House members really want to go on record in support of it, before it is removed.

The House Democratic leadership deserves some credit for switching away from a clearly unconstitutional procedure.  But the Senate Bill has been enormously objectionable to most Democrats and Republicans, so it may not get as much support on the House floor as it would have gotten in combination with the Reconciliation Bill.  We’ll see.

The procedure that they’re now going to use may be constitutional, but it’s still an utter mess.  For example, if they first vote against the Cornhusker Kickback (by voting for the Reconciliation Bill), and then vote for the Cornhusker Kickback (by voting for the Senate Bill), the second vote would completely negate the first vote on the Cornhusker Kickback.

COMMENTS

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  • reddog53

    They have been faced with the onslaught of our calls and have persevered under some pretty brutal conditions.

    They helped convey the strength of the message that killed “Deem and Pass” and deserve our thanks.

    • john_q_public

      If Pelosi is willing to forgo deem and pass for a normal vote I would assume she is doing so because she has the votes to do so. I would assume that’s why they were going with deem and pass in the first place because the originally didn’t have the votes for a normal vote.

      The fix may just be in :(

      • RealQuiet

        n/t

        • eburke

          going to have to walk the plank without being sure of Senate cover. If reconciliation passes the House but not the Senate, then the House Dems will once again have bought a bag of excrement from their leadership. They will get pounded by ads excoriating them for voting for kickbacks, bribes, taxing cadillac plans, and everything else they hate about the Senate bill.

          And what’s their response going to be? Uh, well, I was stupid enuf to think the Senate was going to fix it.

          I’ll be interested in how many yes’s who gave their yes under the cover of deemon pass will change their mind now.

          • eburke

            If the Executive Order language they’re working on satisfies them without pissing off the pro-choice caucus, this thing’ll probably pass. If they can’t get language that does so, it’s toast no matter what the Botox Queen pulls out of her….whatever.

          • renny

            That’s what’s going to happen to Stupak and his gang of 10 ot 12.

            This is not good.

      • mavericktime

        Then they will vote on the Senate bill.

        • Menlo

          So they are going to amend something that they have not voted on? I recall the parliamentarian said they could not do that.

          • john_q_public

            Biden unfortunately has the last word on parliamentary procedure.

          • Putter

            on the latest House contortions:
            http://minx.cc/?post=299622

    • http://www.the41stvote.org rcov092

      switchboard ops and many others who have had to field the onslaught of digital pitchforks, our thanks and sympathy to you.

  • tngal

    and patient. it was when you got to the actual staff (especially of the yes group) that they seemed like they didn’t want to hear from you for some reason. Go figure. Maybe they were volunteers. I would hate to think my tax dollars paid them to be so rude.

  • mavericktime

    Part of the announcement leading to crescendo of visiting King Obama.

    • proudgop

      is yes too now. Bean and halverson too

  • mavericktime

    SOMETHING has to be available to prevent this from becoming law.

    • Menlo

      Regardless of whether it passes or a court recognizes it, nothing that is unconstitutional is “law.” It may be enforced, but it is not and never can be “law.”

    • ocleverone

      Until the vote is taken, it ain’t done yet. Use your energy on calling representatives offices, faxing, emailing and then turn around and do it again.

      While you may depressed, keep working and stop being a Davy Downer to the rest of us that are fighting.

  • mavericktime

    Do they really have the votes?

    • AndrewHyman

      It’s still extremely close.

      Ron Kind says he’s a “no” for the same reason as DeFazio

      http://hamptonroads.com/2010/03/sparks-fly-democrats-near-216-votes

      Ditto for Michael Capuano, and Pelosi says the bill is not changing

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032001196_2.html?sid=ST2010032001699

      • mavericktime

        according to Jay Cost. He says Pelosi is at -3.

        Former No’s
        Baird
        Lincoln Davis
        Matheson
        Nye
        Tanner

        Former Yes’s
        Sanford Bishop
        Dahlkemper
        Kanjorski
        Kaptur
        Mollohan
        Ortiz

  • mavericktime

    Senators that they will vote for the reconciliation fixes bill.

    • hickorystick
      • mavericktime

        Is Reid lying? Will he show them what he’s got?

        • eburke

          as the paper it’s written on. It doesn’t make any difference if there are 51 senators committed to reconciliation. Every single item in the reconciliation bill that doesn’t adhere to the Byrd rule will have a point of order raised against it and if it is upheld by the Parlimentarian, 60 votes will be needed to waive the POA. So 51 is worthless.

          Any House Dem who sold their soul for the snake oil being sold them by the Dem leadership is an absolute idiot who will deserve to get thrown out on his sorry ass in November.

          • hickorystick

            If the dems pass this, they will get no cover from the Senate.
            After all their buy offs, there will be blood in the Senate for the rest of the year. Filibuster the budget, and remove any buy off in the HC Bill.
            The Republicans should hold investigations on this next January, and declare the Bill null and void because of it’s criminal nature.

  • mavericktime

    http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MGY3MTRiNGI3NjMwMmIxOTllY2E0ZDYyMWQyY2JhZDA=

    http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Everybody-Glad-%27Deem-and-Pass%27-Is-Dead-2916

    • proudgop

      http://www.rollcall.com/news/44436-1.html

      he only has 6 people with him now down from his 12 before

      its not good folks what a scary thing is happening in this country

  • michael_68_1999

    the military medical services of TRICARE, and the VA treatment of veterans is NOT protected by this legislation. An unelected Treasury Department bureaucrat will decide whether the current level of care provided to military families is “enough,” or whether they will have to spend more of the little money they have to purchase health insurance.

    This is an obscenity.

    But not unexpected from the Democrats, who want to reward every single service member for their time serving in Bush’s Wars.

  • Scope

    “The House Democratic leadership deserves some credit for switching away from a clearly unconstitutional procedure.” Why? So they can get the bill passed on a quasi-constitutional basis? Why would you want that? I’m sorry they took Deem and Pass off the table, if the thing was going to pass anyway.

    From my understanding, there are AG’s that will still sue for the favor shown to some states, but, not to others. Somewhere in the Constitution, Congress cannot pass legislation favoring one state over any others. The thing will still go before the courts. Also, I am not so sure that Obama can sign an Executive Order that includes major funding of anything. If Stupak falls for it, he is dumber than a box of Rocks. Actually, he already is that, just by being a Demonrat.

    • AndrewHyman

      Millions of people were angry that they were planning an unconstitutional “Slaughter Solution.” So, they were right to cancel it. That’s all.

      I too kind of wish they had stuck with it, because it would have made the whole thing easier to shoot down in the courts. But they do deserve some credit for following the constitutional procedure.

      As for the substantive requirements of the Constitution, the question of whether an individual mandate is constitutional will go before the courts, as it should. My post above did not suggest that the individual mandate is constitutional, or that kickbacks to individual states are constitutional.

      • Menlo

        If the vote on the reconciliation bill is first, isn’t that one even more blatantly against the rules? It would no doubt raise objections from the senate parliamentarian. Of course, I guess it does not matter much if the senate bill is passed anyway.

        • Menlo