The proposed charade is not the “up-or-down vote” the president says he wants. Of course, he is demanding an “up” vote, not a “down” one. This is how the Slaughter/reconciliation procedure would work to deliver it.

We have a Senate bill that is a concoction of arsenic, mercury, botulinum toxin, snake venom, lead, and 2000 other things that nobody knows much about. It got 60 votes before the Massachusetts election, and now can only get 59. The reason it can only get 59 is because the whole country helped to unelect the person who would have been #60.

An emendatory bill to remove the snake venom and lead will, however, pass by 51 votes, and that will be enough if dollar signs are attached to the bill so it can be viewed as budget-related.

The House voted, by the narrowest of majorities, for a bill that contained 1800 of the ingredients in the Senate bill, 200 ingredients not in the Senate bill, but no snake venom or lead. The House cannot get enough votes to pass the whole Senate bill. But it could get enough votes to pass a bill removing the snake venom and lead (or the Cornhusker kickback and abortion coverage).

Speaker Pelosi wants to bundle the bill removing the snake venom and lead with the rest of the Senate bill and say that the House is “deemed” to have pass the whole Senate bill without voting on it, if it votes for the bill removing the two most politically toxic ingredients.

A vote for the Slaughter amendment that would permit this will not be seen by the angry voters as a vote for the Senate bill, Pelosi and company hope. But of course it is. Also they hope that the Courts will give it a pass, or snarl up the proceedings in so much delay that it won’t make much difference.

Among the 1800 unspecified ingredients is a neutron bomb that will destroy the private insurance market, small physician practices, and most existing medical relationships. There will be no bringing them back, so the progressives can start from the rubble to build the government-owned system they really want.

Here’s a link to an article by Michael McConnell, which is the best explanation I have seen of the Slaughter/reconciliation process.

Here’s a link to an effort to get a million emails to Blue Dog Democrats. It is said to be at 700,000, and growing rapidly, so it might make the goal, and a number like that might count.