Republicans were pretty excited about yesterday’s House vote to repeal health care reform. A bit too excited.
“WE JUST REPEALED OBAMACARE!” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) tweeted in all caps, exhibiting the same exuberance with which he screamed at President Obama during last year’s State of the Union address.
Sarah Palin aide Rebecca Mansour retweeted an ally who tipped his hat. “Governor Palin’s hard work and sacrifice made today’s repeal of ObamaCare possible. Please tell the Governor Thank You.”
One correct response to these statements is, “YOU LIE!”
Because they forgot about that part of the Constitution where bills can’t become laws if the Senate doesn’t do anything. And the Senate hasn’t done anything. Fail.
Here are the screencaps:
House Republicans, you may recall, have pledged to cite the constitutional basis for all of their legislative initiatives in the text of their own bills. They’re 0-for-2 on that score. The health care law was introduced without a citation of constitutional authority. And their other accomplishment — a bill to reduce printing waste on Capitol Hill — cited Article 1, Section 5, which holds that “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings.”
Except as David Waldman notes, the bill isn’t a rule change. It’s statutory.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
Disqus Conversations
Click here to read the Disqus Commenting FAQ.