White House says healthcare vote will be transparent regardless of tactics
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The White House on Tuesday said the American people will know how their representatives vote on healthcare reform, regardless of what process Democratic leaders in the House use to deal with the legislation.
In his briefing, spokesman Robert Gibbs attempted to defuse Republican complaints that House leaders were planning to use a “deem to pass” tactic, in effect avoiding a direct vote on the Senate version of the healthcare bill. Republicans have charged the tactic is a way to hide how lawmakers vote on a possibly politically damaging issue.
“We’re being clear,” Gibbs insisted to reporters’ repeated questions. “There is going to be a vote this week and people will know how they [lawmakers] stand on healthcare reform.”
He dismissed GOP complaints as focusing on the “legislative process game,” rather than the important issue of what the healthcare overhaul would do for people.
Late last year, the House and Senate passed different versions of the healthcare overhaul bills. Usually that means the different bills would go to a conference committee to iron out differences that both chambers could live with.
But given the hyper-partisan nature of the healthcare debate, that was impossible, even though Democrats, on paper, control both chambers.
Instead, congressional leaders have been working out a series of amendments to make the Senate bill more palatable to the more liberal House. When those amendments are resolved, they could come to the House floor for a vote. If they are passed, the underlying Senate bill would be deemed to have passed without the need for a direct vote.
The amendments would still have to be passed in the Senate, but by only a simple majority, rather than a supermajority of 60 votes. That process is called reconciliation and has also been attacked by the GOP, which argues that it too is undemocratic.
House Democrats like the tactic, which has been used before by both parties, since it avoids what could be a potentially damaging vote for many members. There are also questions whether Democratic leaders can muster the 216 votes needed to pass the Senate version, which has provisions like taxes that could hit union members and abortion language that some House members dislike.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) defended the procedure, noting that the House would still be passing the Senate legislation.
“We’re playing it straight,” Hoyer said. “We will vote on it in one form or another.”
But Republicans attacked the maneuver for being a sly tactic to avoid the political pitfalls of a vote.
“Anyone who endorses this strategy will be forever remembered for trying to claim they didn’t vote for something they did,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Tuesday. “It will go down as one of the most extraordinary legislative sleights of hand in history.”
“Last year, they thought you can pass a bill without having to read it. This year they want us to pass a bill without having to vote on it,” Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) told a rally of those opposed to the healthcare bill Tuesday. “And the reason for that is because of what is in the bill.”
Meanwhile, President Obama is continuing to talk to House Democrats to win their votes, Gibbs said.
--Michael Muskal
