Democrats to the Slaughter

Would you buy a used Constitution from this woman?

WASHINGTON — President Obama, beginning his final push for a health care overhaul, called Wednesday for Congress to allow an “up or down vote” on the measure, and sketched out an ambitious — and, some Democrats said, unrealistic — timetable for his party to pass a bill on its own within weeks.

Irony is lost on Obamanites. President Obama calls for a "straight up or down vote" on health care. Sounds reasonable enough. On the surface. What does the Democrat controlled House of Representatives think of a straight up or down vote? It's to be avoided at all costs! Let me introduce you to the "Slaughter Rule" (named after Louise Slaughter, not what's going to happen to the Democrats in November!)

The Slaughter Rule would allow the House to simply "deem" that the Senate bill had been passed, so that they could hang amendments on it, like Christmas tree ornaments, to make it more palatable to its members and their constituents back home.
Unfortunately, if they pass the Senate bill without an up or down vote, the bill goes to the President's desk for signing and all those amendments could all sit unused, because the tree will have already been hauled off by the administration (it is March after all!)There is no guarantee that any bill that is passed along with the Senate bill will have any binding effect. How could it? The health care bill will be law, passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President. Anything passed by the House after that will most likely be ignored by the Senate and the President, who will have already gotten what they wanted! Any House member that falls for this Constitutional "bait and switch" should be voted out of office!

“With the Slaughter Solution, House Democrats have exposed themselves as willing to abandon the most fundamental element of legislating – a transparent, up-or-down vote— in order to achieve a unpopular partisan objective. This is highly disturbing and in some ways, dangerous. 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.”

-Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)

“The public has been outraged by a lack of transparency in this bill. If the majority and the Speaker can just deem this bill passed in the rule -- that means no one has the right to even vote on it in the House and to see their level of support. That is certainly unprecedented in a bill of this size and scope.”

-House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-VA.

Constitution of the United States. Article I, Section 7:

“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.”

So, Obama wants an up or down vote, the Constitution calls for an up or down vote, and the House of Representatives, under Nancy Pelosi, toys with the idea of subverting an up or down vote.

November can't come soon enough!

Cross Posted at Say Anything