The Democratic "Slaughter"

As if it weren't devious enough to use the reconciliation route to pass the health care legislation in the face of determined public opposition, the Democrats have cooked up an even more devious tactic to allow the House to pass the health care legislation without actually voting on it. The chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, Louise Slaughter, (D-N.Y) has proposed adding a rule to deem the Senate bill actually passed by the House, without the House members actually having to go on record with a vote. Speaker Pelosi seems to favor this idea, I suppose because she can't actually get enough House Democrats to vote for the bill to pass it.

This legislative process has been bad enough, what with the special deals to buy votes and the fiscal gimmicks to make the bill look like it saves money. If the Democrats actually go through with this "no vote" proposal, Congressional politics will have hit a new low.

I was appealed by the last Bush administration, but this current administration has managed to exceed even the Bush excesses.