Washington
(Mar 14)
Laced with political payoffs, taxpayer funding for abortions, job-killing tax hikes, and huge Medicare cuts, the American people strongly oppose the President’s plan for a government takeover of health care.
Nonetheless, senior Democrats are preparing a pathway to ram the bill through the House without an actual “vote”: the Slaughter Solution. Under this scheme, concocted by the chairwoman of the powerful Rules committee, Louise Slaughter (D-NY), a procedural gimmick would be employed to “deem” the Senate bill passed without ever having a straight up or down vote.
Republicans believe that if the Democrats are willing to have the government takeover our health care system, they should be willing to vote for it – without any gimmicks. And yesterday, even the President’s senior advisor expressed the same opinion:
Republican leaders agree and that’s why they’ve expressed outrage over the use of the Slaughter Solution. But today, in a rare moment of clarity, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) admitted why such an outrageous move is being planned: “no one wants to vote for the Senate bill,” she told a group of liberal bloggers.
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for a plan that will remake one-sixth of the American economy. Yet with the Speaker’s blessing, a bill that Americans don’t want, and no one in Congress wants to vote for is somehow still headed for a high profile vote; and Democrats wonder why people are so upset with Washington.
Still, Democrats appear intent on barreling through the wishes of the American public with the Slaughter Solution driving the train. Speaker Pelosi pledged to operate the most open and honest Congress in history. Does she believe passing such an enormous and costly bill without even voting on it represents the highest standard of integrity and openness?
Gimmicks and sleight of hand cannot change the fact in passing the Senate plan, House Democrats will be endorsing the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, Gator-Aid, taxpayer-funded abortion, $500 billion in job-killing tax increases, and $500 billion in cuts to Medicare, and increases in premiums as high as 13 percent. Rank-and-file Democrats must make a choice: do they stand with President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, or do they stand with their constituents?