Research Briefing

White House Claims To Be Against “Procedural Gimmicks” On Government-Run Health Care, But Letting House Dems Use Gimmick To Avoid Vote On Senate Dems’ Bill

DAVID AXELROD THIS MORNING: “We Don’t Want To See Procedural Gimmicks Used To Try To Prevent An Up-Or-Down Vote On This Issue.” (ABC News’s “This Week,” 3/14/10)

BUT HOUSE DEMS ATTEMPING TO USE PROCEDURAL GIMMICK TO PASS GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE “WITHOUT AN ACTUAL VOTE” ON SENATE BILL

House Dems Now Considering Writing New Rules To Pass Government Takeover Of Health Care “Without An Actual Vote On The Senate’s Legislation.” “Party leaders have discussed the possibility of using the House Rules Committee to avoid an actual vote on the Senate’s bill ... They would do this by writing what’s called a ‘self-executing rule,’ meaning the Senate bill would be attached to a package of fixes being negotiated between the two chambers -- without an actual vote on the Senate’s legislation ... the Senate bill would be automatically attached to the reconciliation package, if the House passes reconciliation.” (Patrick O’Connor and Carrie Budoff Brown, “A Dizzying Array Of Options To Pass Health Care,” Politico’s “Live Pulse“ Blog, 3/9/10)

• And This Morning, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) Confirms That House Will Attempt Vote On Government-Run Health Care Without Taking Up Senate Dems’ Bill Directly. “Let’s make it clear. We are going to have an up-or-down vote. Whether up or down on the Senate bill or up or down on procedure that would include passage of the Senate bill recognizing we’re amending the Senate bill.” (FOX News’s “Fox News Sunday,” 3/14/10)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Already Acknowledged The Senate Parliamentarian’s Ruling That The House Must Pass The Senate Bill.  “The bills that have passed, ours with 220 in the House, theirs with 60 in the Senate, we’ll be acting upon the Senate bill with changes that were in the House bill reflected in the reconciliation. So in order to have the Senate bill be the basis and build upon it with the reconciliation, you have to pass the Senate bill, or else you’re talking about starting from scratch. So we will pass the Senate bill. Once we pass it, the President signs it or doesn’t, it’s - people would rather he waited until the Senate acted, but the Senate Parliamentarian, as you have said, said in order for them to do a reconciliation based on the Senate bill, it must be signed by the President.” (Rep. Pelosi, Press Conference, 3/12/10)

But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) Says They Will Try To Avoid Senate Dems’ Bill Anyway. HOYER: “Let me repeat the process … The budget committee will meet. They will report out the bills that are to be reconciled. The rules committee will then take them under consideration shortly thereafter and will present a reconciliation bill. We will all see it at that point in time …” (Remarks, House Floor, 3/12/10)

And House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-CA) Won’t Rule Out Anything, Said Senate Parliamentarian “Cannot Rule On What We Have To Do Over Here. “Slaughter would not say what strategy the House would employ to pass the bill. ‘We’re looking at a lot of things,’ she said, adding that the Senate parliamentarian, ‘cannot rule on what we have to do over here.’” (Susan Ferrichio, “Slaughter Says House Still Has Options On Health Care Despite Parliamentarian’s Ruling,” The Washington Examiner, 3/12/10)