If Americans have a low tolerance for Congressional shenanigans now, wait until they get a load of "deem and pass."
Even more so if Congress actually uses it. And that's a distinct possibility according to this morning's news. (The Washington Policy Center also blogs on it here.)
In today's Washington Post, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is quoted as saying she's prepared to pass the Senate health-care reform bill without a vote using the obscure but apparently oft-used legislative procedure. Instead of voting on the Senate version of the bill, House members would vote on a measure that includes fixes to the main legislation. Acceptance of that bill would signify that lawmakers "deem" the omnibus health-care bill to be passed.
According to the Post:
The tactic — known as a "self-executing rule" or a "deem and pass" — has been commonly used, although never to pass legislation as momentous as the $875 billion health-care measure. It is one of three options Pelosi said she is considering for a late-week House vote, but she added she prefers it because it would politically protect lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly support the bill.
"It's more insider and process-oriented than most people want to know," the speaker said in a round-table discussion with bloggers Monday. "But I like it," she said, "because people don't have to vote on the Senate bill."
It's hard to know where to start on this exchange. Lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly support a measure altering an industry that affects one-sixth of our country's economy should be protected and not held accountable to the people they serve?
How about the implication that the American public can't handle the legislative sausage-making, or that it's more "insider" than people want to know? Recent polls -- including this one from Rasmussen -- suggest the American public is very much interested in what's happening in Congress and where it stands on the health-care reform effort. According to the poll, the numbers are virtually unchanged from a week ago, and are consistent with regular tracking going back to last Thanksgiving.
Perhaps more troubling is Speaker's last point: She likes "deem and pass" because "people don't have to vote on the Senate bill."
They're delusional if they think "deem and pass" gets them off the hook. It's a technicality. They're still voting. After the president promised that health reform negotiations would be broadcast on C-SPAN for all to see, Congress crafted the bill behind closed doors and cut back-room deals (e.g. the Louisiana Purchase, Cornhusker Kickback). And now, after demanding an "up or down" vote on health reform, they're hurtling toward passage with a parliamentary trick that avoids a public vote. Accountability?
Unfortunately, Americans don't enjoy the "deem and pass" privilege that Congress does. But they do still wield the right to vote, and that could prove instructive later in November.
