The "Slaughter Solution" - is not to pass the Senate version on an up-or-down vote. Rather, it is to have the House "deem" that the legislation was passed and then have members vote directly on a series of "sidecar" amendments to fix the things it does not like.
This would enable House Democrats to avoid going on the record voting for provisions in the Senate bill - the "Cornhusker Kickback," the "Louisiana Purchase," the tax on high-cost so-called "Cadillac" insurance plans - that are reviled by the public or labor-union bosses. If the reconciliation fixes pass, the House can send the Senate bill to President Obama for his signature without ever having had a formal up-or-down vote on the underlying legislation.
Many Democrats could claim they opposed the Senate bill while allowing it to pass. This would be an unprecedented violation of our democratic norms and procedures, established since the inception of the republic. Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution stipulates that for any bill to become a law, it must pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate. That is, not be "deemed" to have passed, but actually be voted on with the support of the required majority. The bill must contain the exact same language in both chambers - and in the version signed by the president - to be a legitimate law. This is why the House and Senate have a conference committee to iron out differences of competing versions.
This is Civics 101. The Slaughter Solution is a dagger aimed at the heart of our system of checks and balances. It would enable the Democrats to establish an ominous precedent: The lawmaking process can be rigged to ensure the passage of any legislation without democratic accountability or even a congressional majority. It is the road to a soft tyranny. James Madison must be turning in his grave.In 2006, Democratic leaders, including then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, signed onto a lawsuit that Ralph Nader's group Public Citizen filed against Republicans, who were in control of Congress at the time, for using the maneuver known as "deem and pass" to finalize a deficit-reduction bill. A clerical error had been found in the House version of the bill, so Congress deemed the correct version passed without a further vote.
"The constitutional rules set forth in Article I are not mere exercises in formalism," Michael McConnell, professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, wrote in an opinion article published in the Wall Street Journal this week.
"They ensure the democratic accountability of our representatives," he said. "Democratic leaders have not announced whether they will pursue the Slaughter solution. But the very purpose of it is to enable members of the House to vote for something without appearing to do so. The Constitution was drafted to prevent that."
Real Clear Politics Poll.....
Job Approval ….. Approve ….. Disapprove …. Spread
Obama …......... 47.5% …... 47.7% …...... -0.2%
