GOP bashes Slaughter plan for health vote
WASHINGTON — Rep. Louise Slaughter of Fairport has become a central figure in the health care reform debate as Democrats try to overcome a final hurdle in enacting sweeping legislation.
Slaughter, who chairs the House Rules Committee, has proposed taking advantage of a parliamentary tactic that would fast-track House approval of the Senate’s version of health care reform legislation and send it to the president without a direct vote.
Republicans are bashing the tactic as the “Slaughter solution.”
Under Slaughter’s proposal, the Senate bill would be “deemed passed” if the House approves a rule for floor debate of a second bill. That second bill would contain changes that House Democrats want to make to the Senate bill.
“The only debate would be the customary 30 minutes per side on the rule itself,” said Rep. David Dreier of California, the ranking Republican on the Rules Committee.
Slaughter responded Monday that the procedure has been used by the House as far back as a March 16, 1933, vote on maintaining the creditworthiness of the federal government. “Republicans have used it; Democrats have used this for major legislation,” she said.
“I think somebody needs to have a solution and I’m happy to be the person with it,” she said.
