Will the Democrats 'Self Execute' on Healthcare Reform?

March 17, 2010 · Vol. 5, No. 11
Will the Democrats 'Self Execute' on Healthcare Reform?

by Newt Gingrich

Posted 03/17/2010 ET
Updated 03/17/2010 ET

Last year, the Democrats passed the stimulus bill without reading it.

This year, they are trying to pass the healthcare bill without voting on it.

Yes, you read that correctly.

In the next few days, Nancy Pelosi will enact a rules change that essentially says if one bill passes the House with certain fixes to the Senate healthcare bill, then the original Senate bill will also have been “deemed” passed by the House through a “self executing rule.”

The reason, straight from Speaker Pelosi’s mouth, is simple: “Nobody wants to vote for the Senate bill.”

If this doesn’t make much sense, it is probably because some overly idealistic civics teacher once taught you that the Constitution requires that before a bill can be “presented to the President of the United States” it “shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate.”

You can learn more about the Democrats latest bizarre tactic and Republican efforts to block it here, but frankly, in terms of whether this bill will ultimately pass or fail, the Democrats’ latest mockery of the Constitution is secondary.

What is most important is this: no matter what Nancy Pelosi is trying to tell the nervous members of her caucus, there is nothing that can shield Democrats from having to make a “yes or no” decision on whether the Senate’s healthcare bill will be signed into law.

Yes Means Yes (and No Democrat Can Deny It)

Whatever Rube Goldberg legislative device the Democrats end up using to try and pass the healthcare bill, the bottom line is that there will be a vote.

During that vote, every member of Congress will have to go on the record as to whether the Senate’s version of the healthcare bill will be sent to the President for signature.

And once the bill is signed by President Obama, the Senate’s version of the healthcare bill will become the law of the land. There is no guarantee the “fixes” to the bill the House wants will ever pass the Senate.

This means that every Democrat that voted for the bill will have to defend:

• Federal funding for abortion;

• A half trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare services that do not fix the programs’ long-term structural budgetary problems;

• A half trillion dollars in new taxes that will be passed on to the consumers of health insurance and everyday medical devices;

• The “Louisiana Purchase” and other special deals used to bribe senators to vote for the bill.

• 159 new government boards, bureaucracies, and programs that will further depress a health system already mired in bureaucracy.

Any Democrat who votes yes and claims their vote didn’t mean yes is doing double damage to their political lives: making a bad bill the law of the land and then lying about their complicity in letting it happen.

Why “Self Executing” Is the Right Term

A recent poll by Independent Women’s Voice in 35 swing districts illustrates the danger this bill poses to the Democrats’ political lives.

In these districts:

• 61% would be less supportive and 29% more supportive of a member of Congress who previously voted AGAINST the bill and then voted FOR it.

• 49% would be more supportive and 40% less supportive of a member of Congress who previously voted FOR the bill and then voted AGAINST it.

• 58% percent would be more supportive and 34% less supportive of a member of Congress who previously voted AGAINST the bill and again voted AGAINST it.

The results are clear. Vote no and the people back home will thank you. Vote yes and spend the rest of the year being repudiated by your constituents.

For House Democrats, voting to make this bill law is indeed an act of “self execution.”

Why don’t you call your Congressman now and make that clear?

Your friend,


Newt Gingrich