Deem it Passed? The Ultimate Washington Power Grab

At CNN, "House Democrats Weigh Controversial Rule in Health Care Vote":

The House is expected to vote this week on the roughly $875 billion bill passed by the Senate in December. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, needs 216 votes from her 253-member caucus to pass the measure. No Republicans are expected to back it.

A total of 27 House Democrats, including nine who supported the House plan in November, have indicated they would join a unified House Republican caucus in opposing the Senate plan, which passed in that chamber on December 24 with the minimum required 60 votes.

Included in that 27 are five House Democrats who told CNN Tuesday that they will vote against the Senate legislation. That puts opponents of reform just 11 votes shy of the 216 needed to prevent Obama from scoring a major victory on his top domestic priority.

Pelosi's problem: A lot of House Democrats don't like the Senate bill. Among other things, some House members have expressed concern the Senate bill does not include an adequate level of subsidies to help middle- and lower-income families purchase coverage. They also object to the Senate's proposed tax on high-end insurance plans.

Pelosi's solution: Have the House pass the Senate bill, but then immediately follow up with another vote in both chambers of Congress on a package of changes designed in part to make the overall legislation more acceptable to House Democrats.

Now, Pelosi also may try to help unhappy House Democrats by allowing them to avoid a direct vote on the Senate bill. The speaker may call for a vote on a rule that would simply "deem" the Senate bill to be passed. The House then would proceed to a separate vote on the more popular changes to the Senate bill.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday that Republicans will try to block the procedure. They will try to force a vote on a resolution requiring the Senate health care bill to be brought to an up-or-down vote.

The Democratic plan is "the ultimate in Washington power grabs, a legislative ploy that lets Democrats defy the will of the American people while attempting to eliminate any trace of actually doing so," Boehner said.

Defy the will of the public while making the most cowardly arguments ever. See, The Hill, "Hoyer Defends Tactic to 'Deem' Approval of Senate Health Bill" (via Memeorandum).

RELATED: Doug Ross, "Democrats: We're so proud of our awesome takeover of health care that we won't go on record as actually having voted for it."