Health Care Reform: "The Slaughter Solution" Deems the Senate Bill Passes in the House!
Published March 12, 2010, 11:58 am, CST
by Diane W. Collins
dcollins@marketingweb.com
The machinations Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership are employing to get the Senate Health Care Reform bill through the
House are astounding, to say the least.
The Washington Examiner (online edition), the National Journal's Congress Daily, and the NY Post have all run stories the last two days regarding a procedural manipulation that would allow the House to "deem" the Senate bill passed once they pass the President's bill of fixes. Quoting Grace-Marie Turner's report in the NY Post,
"So now Democratic leaders say they'll package a two-for-one- vote... Nowhere in the US Constitution does it say that Congress can deem a bill to have passed... Pelosi & Co. aren't just making up policy as they go, but also procedure -- possibly unconstitutional procedure, at that."
This is referred to as the "Slaughter Solution," a procedure developed by House Rules Chairwoman, Louise Slaughter. First, the CBO must score the President's bill of fixes. Once that's done, you can count on Pelosi to move on it. She stated as much in her press conference this morning.
During Speaker Pelosi's press conference on Capitol Hill, Leader Steny Hoyer (D- MD) and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) were going at it on the House floor. Rep. Cantor tried time and again to get Leader Hoyer to state the House would have the opportunity to have an "up-or-down vote" on the Senate bill. Leader Hoyer never gave Cantor a straight answer to the question. Cantor had to result to "assuming" on record the answer was no. Watch the video for a full accounting of this back-and-forth duel of words. Cantor's next point concerned the amount of time the House would have to review the bill before the vote. 
Leader Hoyer continued to refer to the Senate bill which has been online for more than seventy-five days. The point, however, was not the Senate bill but the President's bill of fixes. Again, Cantor asked Hoyer for the amount of time they would have to review the new bill. The answer... they would follow procedure.
Why would any representative vote for this? With all the machinations going on how can there be any trust in the process? The Democrats are bringing into question the ethical procedure of the Congress of the United States of America. The American people can only stand in wonder at the convoluted, circumventing of their will. We'll add video to this story shortly. Stay tuned.
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