Rep. Dreier: There’s Nothing GOP Can Do to Block Dems’ Procedural Move on Health Reform

For all the criticisms Republicans are lobbing at the House Democrats’ plan to pass the Senate health care reform bill without actually passing the Senate reform bill, even the senior Republican on the House Rules Committee conceded today that there’s nothing the GOP can do to block the move, Roll Call reported:

“There is nothing that can prevent it,” said Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the Rules Committee. “It’s something they can clearly do if they have the votes.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated earlier today that she hopes to use a procedural move allowing House Democrats to pass a series of health reform “fixes” as part of a reconciliation bill, and in doing so “deem” the much larger Senate bill to be passed simultaneously. The strategy allows the Democrats to usher the Senate bill through the lower chamber without forcing votes from moderate Democrats, many of whom are balking at various provisions in the Senate bill.

The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein has a nice breakdown of how this process would work.