Shame on Pelosi's "Deem and Pass" Trickery

Here is another call to action from my friend Shirley Spellerberg:

As we mentioned in our action alert two days ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is plotting to use a parliamentary procedure to prevent a recorded vote on the Senate Obamacare bill in the House because she lacks the necessary 216 votes needed to pass it. This shameful tactic to simply "deem" the Senate bill as passed by bringing the 2,309-page "fixer" bill to a House vote has been dubbed as the "Slaughter Solution," aptly named after liberal House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY).

The "Slaughter Solution" violates Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution which states:

"Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States."
  • The Slaughter Solution attempts to allow the House to pass the Senate bill, plus a bill amending it, with a single vote.
  • The Senators would then vote only on the amendatory bill, but this means that no single bill will have passed both houses in the same form.
  • As the Supreme Court wrote in Clinton v. City of NY (1998), a bill containing the "exact text" must be approved by one house and the other house must approve "precisely the same text."
  • What the House is aiming to do is attach a new bill to an existing bill in order to create the illusion that only half of this bill is receiving a vote.
  • Arthur Fergenson, a constitutional law expert and the lawyer who litigated Buckley v. Valeo-the case which enshrined campaign spending as a form of constitutionally protected speech-attests that a bill must be the same item, not a collection of multiple bills.
  • The bill receiving a vote in one chamber must be the identical piece of legislation that receives a vote in the other chamber in order to become law.
  • If the Senate bill does not receive a direct vote in the House, then it is understood that the "fixer" bill is only being agreed to because it contains changes, adjustments, or fixes to an existing piece of legislation.
  • The Senate has never voted on this exact package, or pairing of Obamacare bills. This means that if President Obama were to sign such a package, the presumed law would be a nullity.
  • Thus, a vote for the Slaughter Solution rule is a vote for the Senate Obamacare bill.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) described this shameful tactic on the House floor:

"Democrats are trying to use a sneaky snake oil gimmick. Let's have an up-or-down vote on this bill and not hide behind some procedural mumbo jumbo!"

Tell your Representative that a vote for the Slaughter Solution rule is a vote for Obamacare--just vote NO!

TAKE ACTION!

  1. The House GOP Leadership plans to force a vote on a resolution today, Thursday, March 18th, to block the Slaughter Solution. Recent convert to the Republican Party, Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL), will introduce the resolution. Please continue to make your phone calls and urge the target Democrat representatives to support the GOP's resolution!
  2. Continue targeting these 32 undecided Democrats. This is the most accurate and most frequently updated target list that exists in Washington, D.C. Be sure to refresh the page frequently for the most accurate tally. Your phone calls and emails are so important, and they ARE working! Your activism is the reason the floor vote has not yet been called! Keep up the good work-we need you in this fight to save America! And, don't forget about the district offices.
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