Obama Not Bothered by Possibly Un-Constitutional "Procedural" Deem-and-Pass Scheme; Dem House Leaders Set Selves Up For Future Ethics Charges

Just win, baby:

The president, in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, responded for the first time to the controversy over a plan to use a parliamentary maneuver to allow the House to pass the Senate's health care bill without forcing members to vote for it directly.

The esoteric procedure has drawn fierce protest from Republicans, who say Democrats are trying to avoid accountability. But the president said there will be no doubt about where lawmakers stand on health care reform.

"I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or Senate," Obama said. "What I can tell you is that the vote that's taken in the House will be a vote for health care reform."

At Volokh, experts suggest that using deem-and-pass (or "demon pass" as some have dubbed it) will bring the Constitutionality of the legislation in question, as it would assume a controversial law passed without directly voting on it, seemingly in clear violation of the Constitutional requirement. While supporters of the Demcratic scheme are quick to point out that deem-and-pass has been used previously by both Democrats and Republicans, the simple fact of the matter is that it has never before been used to force through legislation that did not have clear majority support.

Deem-and-pass has been used to pass legislation unpopular with voters but with scant opposition in Congress; using it as a trick to avoid possible rejection in an open vote is clearly against what the Founders intended, and arguably grounds for ethics charges to be brought against Democratic leaders who are clearly acting in bad faith.

While there is little chance that the current Congress would bring up Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Louise Slaughter, and other Democratic architects of the scam up on charges, the possibility exists that a November revolt that returns the House to Republican control could see such charges pursued. Based upon the public's strong opposition to the current health care rationing bill, such ethics cases would likely find overwhelming public support.