Liberal Burblings

I thought I had alighted upon the most obscure fact of arcane Senate procedure that a Brit layperson could assimilate (without his/her head exploding) when I mentioned the “Byrd Bath“.

However, this one is on a par with that, I think:

From Daily Caller:

Machinations continued also over how Democrats might pass a bill procedurally to limit defections.

Democrats might use a highly unorthodox procedure, called the “Slaughter Solution,” to pass a reconciliation bill that simply deemed the Senate bill passed, allowing hesitant lawmakers to circumvent actually casting a ballot in favor of a law they don’t like. Rules Committee Chairman Louise Slaughter, New York Democrat, told The Daily Caller that chances were “pretty good” the procedure would be used.

The Washington Examiner explains:

Each bill that comes before the House for a vote on final passage must be given a rule that determines things like whether the minority would be able to offer amendments to it from the floor.

In the Slaughter Solution, the rule would declare that the House “deems” the Senate version of Obamacare to have been passed by the House. House members would still have to vote on whether to accept the rule, but they would then be able to say they only voted for a rule, not for the bill itself.

Hat-tip: Political Wire