“Deem And Pass”: Getting To Know Today’s Political Buzzword

by Steve Krakauer | 9:31 am, March 16th, 2010

» 31 comments

Some have called it the “slaughterhouse rule.” Others say “self-executing rule.” One Democratic Congressmen on FNC called it a “self-implementing rule.”

But here’s what you need to know about the new possible strategy by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pass health care reform, known as “deem and pass.”

The “Deem and Pass” rule (which sounds a bit like Demon Sheep) is described this way by the Washington Post:

Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers “deem” the health-care bill to be passed.

The tactic — known as a “self-executing rule” or a “deem and pass” — has been commonly used, although never to pass legislation as momentous as the $875 billion health-care bill. It is one of three options that Pelosi said she is considering for a late-week House vote, but she added that she prefers it because it would politically protect lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly support the measure.

USA Today notes this has been used several times by both sides of the aisle, but Lawrence O’Donnell on Morning Joe argued it has never been used because of the magnitude of this specific bill.

According to TV Eyes, as of 9:15amET “deem and pass” has been mentioned six times on MSNBC and three times on FNC today (not yet on CNN). It was discussed a little yesterday as well, but not any time on any cabler before 6pmET last night.

So expect to hear and read a lot more about “deem and pass” (the new “reconciliation”?) today and the rest of the week as the health care bill continues to make its way toward an inevitable conclusion.

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Deem and pass, Demon pass, Health Care Reform, Nancy Pelosi

Azarkhan

Appropriately named after that demon ass Louise SLAUGHTER!

I think the best way to make sense of it is THUSLY:

The Democrats use “procedural sleight of hand” to pass Health Industry Takeover,
The Republicans win the House!
The Real Royal King

It lacks the fire of “Duck and Cover,” but it still has a nice ring.

We get something enacted, and it’s a win-win for America, Americans and Democrats. The American people are not as in favor of doing absolutely nothing and screaming, “No! NO!! N O !!!” as you suggest Azarkhan. Gingrich tried that with the government shutdown in the Contract on America, and we see how that worked out for the Republicans and for him.
Azarkhan

READ IT and WEEP, PUNK:

US Constitution-Legislative Branch, Sect 7:

“But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively.”
Azarkhan

I smell LAWSUIT!
dhg

Deem and Pass = Smoke and mirrors,Bait and switch, and I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you.

Hold on to your wallets,grab your ankles and get ready to be drilled deeper and longer than a Dick Cheney oil well.

Those who we elect over and over yet seem only interested in themselves are about to pass something they think we need more than we do at a time when we are suffering more than we have in 70+ years.

Maybe they need to know what being jobless is like,we have a chance to show them coming up soon.
roxsteady

It’s a rule so, deal with it teabaggers! All of your protest and other bullshit was a complete waste of time. The bill will pass and the impotent Republicans and Conservatives will have failed too. I love it! Call it want you want but, you’re getting your asses kicked again this week! Swallow hard!
roxsteady

What you smell is defeat! You should be used to it though.
puck30

Okay, so the Dems pass it on this wacky ‘Wing and a Prayer’. Obama signs it, it gets tied up in the court. And the Dems run in Nov. on the ‘We tried to give the American People Goverment Healt Care’?

Why all this fuss? I thought they were saying over the weekend they had the Votes?

Here’s the deal, The Dems are like that annoying Salesperson that gets his ‘toe’ in the door and just starts working their way into your office.

Meanwhile, the Republicans can come out with a very simple bill but they won’t.

MSNBC is trying to be the place for new buzzwords.

Is there another option? Please?
puck30

roxsteady says:
March 16, 2010 at 11:04 am
What you smell is defeat! You should be used to it though.

How long have you guys been in Control? And last time I looked you guys have been in the position of passing anything you want because the other side can’t stop you.

All I heard Sunday was “we got the Votes! We got the Votes!” “We got the Votes”!

So why then the Whatever pull it out the *** Deem & Pass?

If it’s a smell your looking for, best check your own diaper.
dhg

roxsteady = kool aid kook.

Just because deem and pass is marginally legal and has been used before though not for huge bills like this,it’s still smoke and mirrors games and still forcing through a bill the american people do not want passed.

VOTE OUT INCUMBENTS!

Regardless of party,they are ALL our worst enemies.
roxsteady

Really? I guess your buddy Karl Cameron drinks the kool aid too?

“Fox’s Cameron rebuts right-wing attack on “Slaughter solution”: “Deeming has been used, literally, for centuries”

Maybe it’s your momma’s diaper you smell.
roxsteady

By the way, like reconciliation, it’s been used more by Republicans. I await your pathetic comeback!
MichelleF

This is just the beginning, folks! Beck just played a clip of Chuch Schumer telling a group of progressives that that don’t have to follow the 2/3 rule. They can just change it anytime they want, as long as they do it at the beginning of the session. I won’t ask Rox, because she’s a disgusting human being, but I will ask my good buddy King, are you ok with that? If you are going to answer yes, that means you would also be ok with it if we had a conservative president and not a liberal one.

Steve,
I would love to see a piece on the Chuck Schumer bit. I know you would do one if it were Sarah Palin saying should just circumvent the constitution. If you need more info, feel free to watch Glenn’s show today, he says there lots more coming!
puck30

Listen up and take the poop out of your ears.

You onw the house.

You own the Senate.

You own the White House.

You can pass anything you want to, it doesn’t matter what the Republicans do. And it’s not like Reconciliation, but it doesn’t matter. Don’t you listen? This is all I heard Sunday from that Pathetic bunch of yours.

“We got the Votes! We got the Votes!” “We got the Votes”! “We got the Votes!” “We got the Votes!”

What part of “We got the votes don’t you understand? Seems pretty simple to me? So, Why this ‘Deem & Pass’?

Got it Mr. Pathetic?

Now go stick your nose in your Mamma’s three day old Crotch Cheese.
puck30

You own the house
puck30

MichelleF says:
March 16, 2010 at 11:38 am

Thanks Michelle, but here’s the bottom line.

Republicans can’t stop this. They have no power! So why are we even talking about 2/3 votes, ‘deem & pass’, Reconripoff, whatever.

All the Dems have to do is get enough votes from their side.

Even a highly educated liberal can see that!
roxsteady

Actually, both of my parents are deceased. What part of THE DEMOCRATS WON AND HAVE THE RIGHT TO GOVERN DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND? The Dems have already gotten 60 votes in the Senate and 217 in the house. You teabaggers need to deal with the fact that you don’t have a party, you don’t have the numbers and you don’t get a say in this. You’ve lost…again!
dhg

As this thread drifts toward sounding like 12 year olds…

roxsteady,it doesn’t matter who used it more,less or at all.

If a bill has to be passed using procedural voodoo instead of a proper vote something ain’t right…

And that something is a completely dysfunctional corrupt self interested congress where both parties think they know better than we do,are more interested in their own betterment than the betterment of their constituency and are more motivated by money than anything else.

VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS!
MichelleF

Well, I have a feeling come Nov. and 2012, that won’t be the case. I hope the Dems continue to try to run overtop the american public, it’s only hurting them. And btw, is it even possible for you to post without using an insult? You sound like the kids on my son’s playgroud.
The Real Royal King

Michelle:

I do believe the Senate rules are in desperate need of reform, particularly the cloture rule. And, I don’t think it is necessary to pass new legislation to accomplish the reformation. It is a rule, subject to change. However, I am not an “ends justify the means” type of guy, and I think the rule change needs to be handled delicately. My approach would be to pass the rule change, but do not make it effective for six (6) years. By so doing, every position in the Senate will have been filled or refilled since the rule has been passed. Every senator’s vote would be a potential re-election issue. Every non-incumbent candidate will have to take a position. Also, no setting senator, no legislation proposed by a setting senator would be able to benefit by the rule change.

I realize that important legislation may not be able to be effectively addressed, but we have borne the yoke of these rules for a couple of hundred years in some instances. I think we could bear another six (6) years.

By the way, I am being told that health care “reform” is now a done deal. I tend to think it is.
MichelleF

You are correct Puck. I know they can’t, but I love hearing these things coming directly from the Dems mouths for us to hear. That’s why they hate Beck, because he brings all of these things to light and it scares the libs to death. Personally, I love it!
MichelleF

Thank you for your thoughtful response, King. I do have one more question for you, if it’s a done deal, why haven’t they voted? Now they are saying it could be past Easter.
puck30

roxsteady says:
March 16, 2010 at 11:57 am
Actually, both of my parents are deceased.

Oh! I get it! So it’s OKAY for roxsteady to make ALL the fun IT wants to make of my mom who has been long gone.

But ooooooooohhhhhhhhh! Don’t hurt the little rox’s feelings.

Want to dig my Mom up and stomp on her bones? Bet you would get a great laugh out of that. And you can say your a liberal so it’s okay.

**** You!

BTW:A** you just agreed with me,

dhg says:
March 16, 2010 at 11:58 am
As this thread drifts toward sounding like 12 year olds…

Sorry about the mama stuff, but as you can see it okay for Rox to make fun of dead people, but don’t make fun of it’s dead parents. It will cry. Double Standard D*******!

I have two friends that work in Hospitals. They said this whole deal is bull and they run off a whole bunch of programs people can use. And then there was the old standbye homeless people showed me back in the 80′s.

This healthcare deal is a tennis ball that Republicans & Democrats toss back and forth. I hope in the future with the internet people wake up more and more to what the yutz’s on both sides are doing.

CLEAN EM’ ALL OUT!
Barney

Wow…even I underestimated the stupidity of the Jackasscocrats. I thought this was an idle threat to pander to the far fucking left.

Go ahead and try this, House Squeaker Nazi Pelosi. It’ll be tied up in the courts until the November election….which will be an even bigger bloodbath.

Th revolution will be televised!!!!
The Real Royal King

MichelleF says:
March 16, 2010 at 12:14 pm

Thank you for your thoughtful response, King. I do have one more question for you, if it’s a done deal, why haven’t they voted? Now they are saying it could be past Easter.

—

A good question. One of the possible answers is that one or more of the swing representatives wants to go back home to “explain away” his or her vote to constituents, to gain the upper hand.
same2u

The party is Over blasts The Huffington Post!

Let us hope so– for the good of society and the damnation of Teabaggers, TVNewser troll trash, and Kluckers everywhere.
Fidoohki

Sounds like a good idea DHG.
The Real Royal King

Barney, I really fail to understand the need for your racially offensive avatar or your foul language. Nothing you said couldn’t have been said without resort to such offensive language. Nonetheless, have you ever heard of the doctrine of “political question” by which a Court does not take up cases the heart of which is a power or duty reserved to one of the other branches of our government? This seems to be a political question, if ever there was one. Sometimes, the Court doesn’t act in accordance with this doctrine, to which witness the 2000 election when the Court effectively appointed W president. And, we do have rightist judicial activism afoot with our Chief Justice. Still, I would be greatly surprised if any case of the sort which you think to be a slam dunk would get very far.

Secondly, I am sure you, the ardent Birther you are, has come to understanding the concept of standing. Who is that will have standing to raise this issue?

I think you’ve got problems exceeding your offensive avatar and language.
MichelleF

same2u, I’ll ask you the same thing I asked Rox. Are you able to post without insulting someone? It’s quite immature.
felixw

I missed the section of the Constitution that allows the Speaker of the House to “deem” a bill into law. But I do know this: some politicians will be deemed out of office in the fall.
writer

Barney, stereotyping is wrong, and if you don’t realize that, then you must be a moron, like all Southerners who live in trailers.