Excerpted from NationalJournal.com
House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.Not to be outdone, the chief Senate Parliamentarian has a different take.
Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.
Slaughter has not taken the plan to Speaker Pelosi as Democrats await CBO scores on the corrections bill. "Once the CBO gives us the score we'll spring right on it," she said.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said last week President Obama wanted the overhaul passed by March 18. Gibbs reiterated the deadline Tuesday.
House members are concerned the Senate could fail to approve the corrections bill, making them nervous about passing the Senate bill with its much-maligned sweetheart deals for certain states.
"We're well beyond that," Pelosi said Tuesday, though she did not clarify.
While members await a final package and a CBO score, Senate Majority Whip Durbin said Democrats have asked Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin for information on how reconciliation can be used "with our goals" and what "the basic rules are."
Republicans want to offer points of order that require 60 votes to overcome under the so-called Byrd rule. Democrats want points of order limited and straight majority votes. It will be up to the parliamentarian to rule what is subject to the Byrd rule and Democrats, Durbin indicated, are looking for guidance on how he views those questions.
From RollCall.com:
The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress’ original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday.All in all, it appears that the Democratic-controlled Congress is quite willing to ignore the Founding Fathers' intend and make up whatever rules they need to help pass healthcare.
The Senate Parliamentarian’s Office was responding to questions posed by the Republican leadership. The answers were provided verbally, sources said.
House Democratic leaders have been searching for a way to ensure that any move they make to approve the Senate-passed $871 billion health care reform bill is followed by Senate action on a reconciliation package of adjustments to the original bill. One idea is to have the House and Senate act on reconciliation prior to House action on the Senate’s original health care bill.
Information Republicans say they have received from the Senate Parliamentarian’s Office eliminates that option.
My thought is this: If Congress presents a bill to President Obama that is clearly in violation of the U.S. Constitution (i.e. passing a bill without actually voting on it), will he sign it? If he does, would this not be an impeachable offense?
Please don't take my word for it. Here is the relevant text you must know (emphasis mine):
U.S Constitution, Article I, Section VII, Clause II.An excellent wrap-up is also presented by Doug Ross here. Sarah Palin's response is here.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively…
Tags: Deemed Passed, Parliamentarian, Founding Fathers, Slaughter Solution
Is it impeachable? I don't know. Maybe. I'd like to think that circumventing the Constitution is a punishable offense. The Constitution stands in the way of someone enacting their agenda. That's what the Constitution is supposed to do. You can't just change the rules if they don't suit your liking. That being said, I have my doubts that 59 Democrats in the Senate would vote to remove Pelosi.
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I think it is impeachable, but consider who is controlling the house. They aren't going to impeach anyone here.
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