How the Democrats Self-Executed
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 2:26AM By: John Prothro
Last night I learned my wife has become an expert in the legislative process. When I asked about the latest news on the health care front, she went into a pedantic rant against the process of “self-executing” or “deem and pass," a legislative trick where the House deems a Senate bill worthy of passage and then votes on a package of reconciliation fixes. Apparently, Nancy Pelosi is supporting this idea as a way to secure passage of the healthcare legislation without actually voting on it.
Who knew representative democracy was so flexible?
Well, my wife now does and anyone following the healthcare debate does as well. Because healthcare reform (sic) has been so difficult to pass, the Democratic leadership has been forced into finding creative (read, underhanded) fixes. Here’s how it has played out so far:
1. The House passed a bill with amendments it never intended to keep.
2. The Senate countered with their version, now famous for the backroom corruption that lead to its passage.
3. Before the House could respond, the Senate lost its supermajority, forcing House Dems to consider reconciliation.
4. After hitting a wall in the House, Democrats looked to self-execute their way to passage.
Rich Lowry summarizes the bill’s journey to date:
“So a bill sold under blatantly false pretenses and passed in the Senate on the strength of indefensible deals would become law in a final flourish of deceptive high-handedness. How appropriate for what would be the worst piece of federal domestic legislation since the fascistic, recovery-impairing National Recovery Act of 1933 or the Prohibition disaster of 1920.”
It seems even some Democrats share Lowry’s disgust with this bill. Despite the months of budget gimmicks, deception, and pressure tactics, not enough House Democrats are ready to join Obama on the plank. Why, then, are Democrat leaders still pressing the issue?
You got me. If Democrats pass this bill, the irony is their “crowning achievement” will be a piece of ugly, unpopular legislation almost certain to sink them in the 2010 midterms. Perhaps then we’ll learn the real meaning of self-execution.