When winning is the only thing that counts, there can be no peace. Peace requires trust and compromise. Peace requires people willing negotiate an agreement and virtuous enough to live up to their commitments. Unfortunately, we have elected folks who think that all that counts is winning.
The legislative process continues to turn in a never ending carousel of Health Care Reform with chess-like parliamentary move and countermove. Congress Daily reported today that Democrats may pass reconciling amendments to the already passed Senate bill without ever having to vote again on the whole measure. Republican House Leader John Boehner and blogs across the Internet appear to be having a hissy fit.
The Democratic chairman of the House Rules Committee, who wears the unfortunate name of Louise Slaughter, is examining a pretty standard House procedural tactic in an effort to avoid needing more than one House vote to pass Health Care Reform back to the Senate. (continued here)
The article above goes on to pooh-pooh Boehner’s complaints. Supposedly, not ever voting “again” on the whole measure is standard procedure. However, the House has never voted on the Senate’s version of the Health Care Bill. Another source describes this “pretty standard House procedural tactic” somewhat differently.
If you thought using budget reconciliation rules to shove through health reform was dastardly, wait until you get a load of “the Slaughter Solution.”
As the National Journal’s CongressDaily and Washington Examiner have reported, Slaughter has cooked up a way to avoid a House floor vote on the Senate’s version of the overhaul. How? By passing a rule declaring the Senate bill already passed in the House. Apparently, all the Rules Committee chairwoman is waiting for is a budgetary scoring from the Congressional Budget Office.
The rules panel’s ranking Republican, California Rep. David Dreier, warned that “the American people do not want this health care bill, and they certainly don’t want the democratic process turned on its head in an effort to pass it over their objections.” (from here)
What exactly is “the Slaughter Solution?” With any luck, it is something the Democrats will have to explain to their constituents during their Easter break.
GOP lawmakers will also be talking about the “Slaughter Solution,” a plan floated by Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter, chairwoman of the House Rules Committee. It’s an outrageous parliamentary maneuver in which House Democrats, who are terrified of voting for the deal-laden Senate health care bill, would essentially assume passage of that bill for purposes of amending it — without voting on the bill itself. Republicans have long made hay out of Democratic corner-cutting on health care, and there will be more during the Easter break. (from here)
To pass a bill, what does the Constitution require?
Clause 2: Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by 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. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. (See Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2 here)
I don’t know about you, but I demand the right to know how my congressman votes. If they have to hide what they are doing, we know they are up to no good. If we want peace amongst us, we cannot allow ourselves to be ruled by duplicitous people.
