The Dems are determined to pass their health care legislation come hell or high water, even in the face of massive opposition, even though they don’t have the votes to do it in the House. Their latest ploy?:
Ace reports, (via The Corner):
Constitutional Slaughter: Democrats Attempting Rule Change in House That Would Pass Senate Bill Without An Actual Vote on the Senate Bill
House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.
Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.
Slaughter has not taken the plan to Speaker Pelosi as Democrats await CBOscores on the corrections bill. “Once the CBO gives us the score we’ll spring right on it,” she said.
Leon Wolfe at RedState explains:
Having determined that they lack the votes in the House to pass the Senate bills as-is, House Democrats are attempting one of the most breathtakingly unconstitutional power grabs ever witnessed – a maneuver to deem the Senate bill ALREADY PASSED by the House by rule, despite the fact that it clearly has not. Now, as we have constantly reminded our ahistorical liberal friends who have already forgotten all of 2002-2006, the filibuster is constitutional because it is a Senate rule of debate, which is expressly authorized by Article I’s delegation of power to each house of Congress to set its own rules of debate. Apparently, some Democrats can’t seem to tell the difference between a rule of debate and just declaring by rule that the House has passed a bill that they have not, when the Constitution itself expressly states that “in all [] Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays[.]” What Slaughter and Pelosi here are attempting here is a blatant violation of the principles of bicameralism and presentment.
And unlike other Unconstitutional things Congress does, there’s caselaw here suggesting pretty clearly that when Congress attempts to pass a law in the absence of proper bicameralism and presentment, a person negatively affected by Congress’s action (e.g., a person required to pay a fine for not having health insurance) has standing to challenge the law’s validity in the Courts. This farce is illegal and unconstitutional on its face, and someone has to be advising the Democrats in the House of this fact. They already know the American people don’t want this bill. They know by now that what they’re trying to do is illegal. The question now is whether they still have the shame to care about either.
Ace is absolutely correct – they’re hoping that the MSM will give them the cover they need to do this…
This is the typical nonsense desperate leftists try. If you can’t do it by the rules, change the rules, and rely on the media to pretend what you’ve done is perfectly reasonable.
*What can we do?
Dan Riehl, fresh off a teleconference call with Mike Pence, has this:
Pence: Next 2 Weeks Will Determine Future Of Health Care In America
Speaking to approximately 10,000 activists, bloggers and other citizens tonight on an Americans For Prosperity Tele-Townhall, 3rd ranking House Republican Mike Pence said the Democrat majority continues to do everything they can to muster the votes to pass the Senate bill, previously passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve. Pence added that it’s doubtful most, if any fixes would be forthcoming from the Senate due to Senate rules and procedures.
Echoing Obama, but without the emphasis or yelling, Pence stated, “Now is the time, this is the moment” to do whatever you can to defeat this bill if you oppose it. His key suggestion was to continue to pressure wavering Democrats.
Tea Party activists hastily organized a protest for Obama’s visit to Philadelphia on Monday. Gateway Pundit covered the 2,225 strong anti-ObamaCare rally in St. Charles MO today.
Tabitha Hale at Freedomworks put out the call for a final rally in DC on March 16th:
*You can order your own torch and pitchfork, here.























