The White House called for a “simple up-or-down” vote on health-care legislation Sunday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appealed to House Democrats to get behind President Obama’s chief domestic priority even it if threatens their political careers.
In voicing support for a simple majority vote, White House health reform director Nancy-Ann DeParle signaled Mr. Obama’s intention to push the Democratic-crafted bill under Senate rules that would overcome GOP stalling tactics.
Republicans unanimously oppose the Democratic proposals. Without GOP support, Mr. Obama’s only chance of emerging with a policy and political victory is to bypass the bipartisanship he promoted during his televised seven-hour health-care summit Thursday.
“We’re not talking about changing any rules here,” Ms. DeParle said. “All the president’s talking about is: Do we need to address this problem, and does it make sense to have a simple, up-or-down vote on whether or not we want to fix these problems?”
Ms. DeParle was optimistic that the president would have the votes to pass the massive bill, but none of legislation’s advocates who spoke on Sunday indicated that those votes were in hand.
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In other words, don’t listen to the citizens who elected you… do as Dear Leader commands…