Various reports are circulating that the Rules Committee has dropped the controversial “deem and pass” procedure with health care - the procedure which would allow House Democrats to bypass an up or down vote on the Senate health care bill.
Republican staff told HUMAN EVENTS that though nothing is final until it is reported out of committee, it does sound like the Democrats have decided to drop the procedure. Democrat Majority Leader Steny Hoyer just announced that they will allow two hours of debate on the reconciliation bill.
“In the words of Ronald Reagan, ‘they may not have seen the light, but they certainly felt the heat,’” Rules Committee Ranking Republican Rep. David Dreier said in a statement regarding the Democrats' decision to forgo deem and pass.
Meanwhile, Rep. John Boehner has asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that the final health care votes be "call of the role," which would require each representative to publicly announce his vote. Pelosi had not yet responded to that request as of early Saturday afternoon.
