As the New York Times reports, the House of Representatives will have two separate votes on the health care bill today. That's right, two. "Deem and pass," the suggested use of a self-executing rule to pass the package on a single vote, has been dropped.
All in all, I think the Democrats won on this one. They floated an idea, gauged the public reaction, and then decided not to go with it. A few conservatives might try to claim this as vindication for the success of their (irrational) outrage, but I think most voters will quickly forget a parliamentary procedure that was proposed but never used. And if Republicans do try to bring it up this fall, Democrats will be free to respond: "that was never a serious option, it was just one single Representative's idea."
Congratulations, Democrats in the House, and here's to a successful vote!
[You can find my previous coverage here (for an explanation of deem and pass, which was previously called the "Slaughter solution"), here (for a response to critics of deem and pass), and here (for further response to critics).]
All in all, I think the Democrats won on this one. They floated an idea, gauged the public reaction, and then decided not to go with it. A few conservatives might try to claim this as vindication for the success of their (irrational) outrage, but I think most voters will quickly forget a parliamentary procedure that was proposed but never used. And if Republicans do try to bring it up this fall, Democrats will be free to respond: "that was never a serious option, it was just one single Representative's idea."
Congratulations, Democrats in the House, and here's to a successful vote!
[You can find my previous coverage here (for an explanation of deem and pass, which was previously called the "Slaughter solution"), here (for a response to critics of deem and pass), and here (for further response to critics).]
No comments:
Post a Comment
I encourage commenters to use their real name, although I do not require it.
Blogger employs an automatic spam filtering algorithm for comments. If a non-spam comment has been filtered out, email source4politics@gmail.com and the issue will be investigated.