Pelosi Floor Whip Doesn't Like Demon Pass

If Nancy Pelosi can't convince a South Boston Democrat to vote for Obamacare using her "deem and pass" unconstitutional procedure, she's got trouble:

Even one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s floor whips, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, says a proposed parliamentary move to pass health-care reform would be “disingenuous” and harm the credibility of Congress.

In a sign of how tough it’s been for Pelosi to round up votes for the massive bill, Lynch - a South Boston Democrat who supported a House reform package last year - said he’ll probably vote against a key Senate version of the legislation, unless unexpected major changes are made soon.

Lynch, who serves as one of Pelosi’s key vote counters, said he also can’t support a proposed “deem and pass” procedure that would allow Democrats to vote to strip out controversial portions of the Senate bill and then “deem” that the entire package has passed without a second, direct vote.

“It’s disingenuous,” said Lynch, who considers unfair a Senate provision to tack a surcharge on higher-end health plans. “It would really call into question the credibility of the House.”

Other Democrats have countered that the “deem and pass” tactic has been employed before, including when Republicans were in the majority in Congress.

These articles never explain the circumstances under which Republicans used "deem and pass". It was for a rather routine vote to increase the debt ceiling. The GOP didn't want to have to vote for it, and they shouldn't have used a procedure like that. If Congress wants or has to pass something controversial, they need to go on record with their votes. The Constitution demands it.

At the time Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and others in the Dem party challenged the procedure in court and were rejected, and that's what concerns me about Republicans who may think that the courts will save them this time. The courts don't like getting into congressional procedural squabbles.

And don't think if Obamacare passes that running on a "repeal Obamacare" platform will be good for the GOP. Once you've given people a government handout it's hard to get them to vote to take it away. How do you think Democrats keep getting elected?

Our best hope is that Pelosi will not be able to muster the votes to pass the Senate bill and the thing will die...at least until it's reintroduced again in the future.