House Democrats Put on Defensive Over Health-Care Bill Strategy
March 16, 2010, 5:36 PM EDTBy Laura Litvan
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Republicans attacked a plan being considered by U.S. House Democratic leaders to push health-care legislation through the chamber without a recorded vote, saying they’re trying to avoid taking responsibility for the bill.
“It will go down as one of the most extraordinary legislative sleights of hand in history,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said today on the Senate floor. He called the possible approach a “career-defining and a Congress- defining” moment for those lawmakers who support President Barack Obama’s effort to overhaul the health-care system.
House Democratic leaders defended the idea, which they said is one of several options being considered. They said Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaning toward a rule that would allow the leaders to “deem” a broad health bill already approved by the Senate as passed by the House the moment a second bill amending certain provisions of the legislation clears the chamber.
Pelosi said today that using the procedure to bypass a direct vote on the Senate measure is an option because there are “a lot of people who don’t want to vote for it.”
The Senate bill includes a number of provisions opposed by many House Democrats, including a tax on high-end insurance plans, special provisions that gave Nebraska and Louisiana added help with Medicaid costs, and abortion restrictions some anti- abortion Democrats say aren’t tough enough.
Republican Opposition
Democrats are trying to pass the legislation over the unanimous opposition of Republicans and polls that show public opinion against them.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer dismissed the latest Republican criticism, saying the public doesn’t focus on the process for moving legislation and that the approach was used by the opposition party when they ran Congress.
“Other than the people in this room, do you think any American will make the distinction?” the Maryland Democrat said to reporters today. “I don’t think any real American out there is going to make a distinction.”
Democrats are awaiting a cost estimate for the legislation from the Congressional Budget Office that they had expected as early as last week. They’re looking for the CBO to determine that their bill can reduce the federal budget deficit.
Biggest Changes
The overhaul calls for the biggest changes to the U.S. medical system since the Medicare program for the elderly was created in 1965. Americans would be required to get insurance, with subsidies and purchasing exchanges to help. Insurers such as Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. would get millions of new policyholders and be required to accept all customers.
The House has to approve an $875 billion bill the Senate passed in December and clear a set of changes to that measure through a process called reconciliation. The Senate would then pass the reconciliation bill.
Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, an adviser to Pelosi, said today consideration of the “deeming” approach hinges on concerns Republicans will try to use the vote against the Democrats in this year’s congressional elections.
He and other Democrats made an orchestrated defense, with the House Rules Committee releasing a document showing the quick-pass strategy dates back to 1933 and has been used by Republicans many times to boost the nation’s debt ceiling and advance other legislation.
The approach would be “consistent with the rules, consistent with former practice,” Hoyer said.
‘Scheme and Deem’
McConnell called it the “scheme and deem” strategy, and the “Slaughter Solution” -- after House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat who would be charged with pushing through a rule utilizing the approach.
Republicans say no bill or amendment has ever been deemed passed that related to an area affecting one-sixth of the economy as the health measure does. McConnell today also tried to tie consideration of the approach to what he called the “Cornhusker Kickback” and the “Louisiana Purchase” -- the Medicaid carve-outs that helped Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid line up enough support to clear the measure.
With midterm elections approaching, House Democrats can expect to pay a price if they try to sidestep a vote on the Senate bill, he said.
“Anybody who thinks this is a good strategy isn’t thinking clearly,” McConnell said. “They’re too close to the situation. They don’t realize that this strategy is the only thing that they or this Congress will be remembered for.”
--With assistance from James Rowley in Washington. Editors: Mark McQuillan, Jim Kirk.
To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Kirk at jkirk12@bloomberg.net
