A number of Democrats have come forward since yesterday evening to say that it would be wrong to pass health care through the senate again using Paul Kirk’s placeholder vote before Scott Brown is seated. But in addition to that, we’re hearing from some people in the House of all places that it would somehow be improper for the House to just pass the existing senate bill because Brown’s election has delegitimized that bill. But this is clearly preposterous. The filibuster is an existing rule of the senate. Until it’s changed, everyone has to deal with that fact. But there’s no democratic legitimacy tied to it — it is itself a procedural dodge.
Here’s what I mean.
It wouldn’t be any problem today to pass the Senate bill again or even the House bill in the senate if Republicans would allow it to simply come to a vote. But they won’t. Brown’s election has simply made it easier for them to prevent the senate from voting on the bill. There’s no democratic process issue to be respected there. The senate already got a chance to vote. And it passed. If given another chance to vote it would easily pass again. There’s no democratic principle involved — to put it mildly — in respecting the senate GOP’s increased ability to block a vote from taking place when one already has taken place.
It’s amazing the nonsense some people come up with.
