[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3525]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. WHITFIELD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. WHITFIELD. Madam Speaker, since the founding of this great 
country, representatives of the people have come to this floor, this 
Chamber, to debate legislation and either vote for it or against it. If 
you support legislation, stand up and support it. If you are opposed to 
it, stand up and oppose it.
  But today's Washington Post says that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 
suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the health care bill 
without having Members vote on it. Instead, she would rely on a 
procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular 
piece of legislation, but under the House rule for that vote, passage 
would signify that lawmakers ``deem'' the health care bill to be 
passed. Speaker Pelosi added that she prefers this tactic because it 
would politically protect lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly 
support the health care bill. She says, ``It's more insider and 
process-oriented than most people want to know, but I like it because 
people don't have to vote on the health care bill.''

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