The House of Representatives today defeated not one, but two attempts by the Republicans to attack the deem-and-pass maneuver for passing the Senate health care bill through the House, as part of a reconciliation package.
Earlier today, the House rejected a resolution from Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL), who switched from the Democrats to the Republicans in December, to require a direct vote on the Senate bill itself instead of the deem-and-pass procedure. The margin of defeat was 222-203 — which might be reasonably seen as a clue for further votes to come. (Late Update: Technically, this was a vote to go forward on a procedural motion by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), rather than interrupt business and hold a vote on Griffith’s resolution, as Republicans were demanding.)
Just now, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) offered a resolution to disapprove of the Democratic leadership for using the “Slaughter Solution,” as the resolution called it, with a lot of strong language calling the procedure a dishonest attempt to shield members from accountability, and that would damage the House’s reputation.
This resolution was then tabled — that is, set aside and effectively killed — by an even stronger margin of 232-181.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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