Mark & Juanita wrote:

You kind of missed the part that states that for a bill to become law, it
must be passed, "in identical form" by both houses of the legislature. That
would *not* be the case with the Demon Pass approach. i.e., the rule would
state that by passing the reconciliation measure, the nationalization of
health care would be "deemed" to have passed without the House actually
voting on it.

OK, I get it. That one is a little too subtle for me. It probably depends on
the exact wording of the rule and resolution, which I haven't read and probably
wouldn't be able to interpret.

The whole approach was to give cover to those voting for it
to say they had not voted for the bill, but for the reconciliation measure.
My fervent hope is that most American voters are smart enough to see through
that BS, but then given the results of the previous two elections, that may
be optimistic.

Yeah. It all seemed kind of silly to me. Any opponent in the fall is going to
say "They voted for/against health care" regardless of the technique used.

Anyway, it appears that the House has dropped that silliness. Within a few
hours they are going to vote a straight up/down on the Senate bill, then the
amendments.

To be perfectly honest with yourself, what would you have thought if the
Bush administration and Republican congress had tried the same approach to
privatizing Social Security?

It's silly no matter who is doing it.

-- Doug