Pelosi: Dems Ready to ‘Kick Through This Door’ to Pass Health Care Bill

Posted on Mar 15, 2010

AP / Alex Brandon

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked tough on Monday on the subject of health care reform, which is no surprise. What is more interesting is the plan she outlined for how she and her fightin’ Dems will “kick through this door” and pass the legislation in a fashion that many people will find somewhat confusing.  —KA

Ezra Klein in The Washington Post:

Here’s how that will work: Rather than passing the Senate bill and then passing the fixes, the House will pass the fixes under a rule that says the House “deems” the Senate bill passed after the House passes the fixes.

The virtue of this, for Pelosi’s members, is that they don’t actually vote on the Senate bill. They only vote on the reconciliation package. But their vote on the reconciliation package functions as a vote on the Senate bill. The difference is semantic, but the bottom line is this: When the House votes on the reconciliation fixes, the Senate bill is passed, even if the Senate hasn’t voted on the reconciliation fixes, and even though the House never specifically voted on the Senate bill.

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