Healthcare

Demon Pass

The Republicans are predictably spastic about the House passing both the Senate bill and the sidecar in one vote -- the "deem and pass" procedure. To recap, the procedure basically allows the Senate bill to pass the House if the sidecar passes the House. In other words, if a congressman votes "yes" on the sidecar, they're also approving the Senate bill.

So what. I don't see what the big deal is. They're still voting, and if they want to vote against the Senate bill, they can vote "no" on both. At this point, there are so many votes on the record anyway, I can't imagine that merging two votes into one will make or break political fortunes.

By the way, Kelly O'Donnell told Chuck Todd this morning that "deem and pass" defies "reality." Uh-huh. It's a rule that can be used. They're not making shit up. This is just as real in terms of parliamentary rules as, say, the filibuster and cloture.