Hey, have I mentioned that the House will be voting on healthcare reform this weekend? I have? Well, courtesy of Taegan Goddard, here’s a summary of the gruesome details:
The House Rules Committee will likely meet on Saturday morning to draft a special rule that allows the House to pass a bill by approving the rule and not necessarily the bill itself. By all indications, this rule will be the now famous “self-executing” rule which “deems” the Senate health care bill passed upon adoption of the rule.
While Republicans on the Rules Committee may try to amend the rule, they’re dramatically outnumbered by Democrats 9 to 4.
The House will likely debate the rule for about an hour and hold a vote on whether to end debate. Assuming that passes, the House holds another vote on adopting the rule. If the rule is approved with 216 votes, the House may begin debate on the reconciliation bill that makes fixes to the Senate version of the health care bill.
The House then debates the reconciliation according to guidelines set forth by the rule. Once debate is finished, the House will finally hold an up-or-down vote on the reconciliation bill. If it passes with 216 votes, the original Senate bill goes to the President for his signature.
In other words, to summarize even more, if Nancy Pelosi can round up 216 votes, it passes. If not, not. So if your congress critter is one of the fence sitters, give ’em a call. Today would be good.
