After spending a week getting themselves all riled up about “Demon Pass”, it seems the procedural maneuver has been ruled out:
House leaders have decided to take a separate vote on the Senate health-care bill, rejecting an earlier, much-criticized strategy that would have permitted them to “deem” the unpopular measure passed without an explicit vote.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Saturday that the House would take three votes Sunday: first, on a resolution that will set the terms of debate; second, on a package of amendments to the Senate bill that have been demanded by House members; and third, on the Senate bill itself.
Van Hollen, who has been working on the issue with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said House leaders concluded that that order — approving the amendments before approving the Senate bill — makes clear that the House intends to modify the Senate bill and not approve the Senate bill itself.
The big break seems to be that House Democrats have gotten the assurance they needed, namely “House leaders have seen a letter, signed by more than 50 Senate Democrats, saying they will vote for the reconciliation amendment.”
This is all good news to me. I would have grinned and bore it if deem and pass was the only way to get the bill passed, but I never liked it. To me, it seemed somewhat irresponsible to let something as important as this bill be in a position where there was even an outside chance it could be thrown out on procedural grounds. I’m glad that the House Dems came to their senses and decided that the voting order alone was sufficient.