NEOAVATARA

There is mixed media reports on this, so I wanted to clarify what has happened.

There will be NO vote by the full House of Representatives until sometime in the Fall. This was a major stipulation of Mr. Obama and Nancy Pelosi, to pass a bill before the August recess. That will NOT happen.

What has happened is that some of the Blue Dog Democrats will allow the current bill to come to some kind of vote in the Energy and Commerce Committee, to save face for Chairman Henry Waxman.  From the Hill:

The Blue Dogs and House leaders have struck a deal to guarantee that the House will not vote on a healthcare bill before August, a leading Blue Dog said on Wednesday.

In exchange for putting off a floor vote until after Labor Day, the Energy and Commerce Committee may be allowed to continue its markup of the healthcare bill this week even if an agreement has not been reached between Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and seven Energy and Commerce Committee Blue Dogs over the content of the bill.

Asked if House leaders had told Democrats that there will be no House vote on healthcare before Friday, Blue Dog Co-Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) said, “I don’t think [leaders have] made public statements to that regard, but my understanding is that that would be part of an agreement, if they actually do move forward with an Energy and Commerce markup that there will be no vote on the House floor until after Labor Day.” …

“There has been no official announcement on floor timing, but at this point, the odds are that we will not likely vote before we adjourn for August,” a Democratic leadership aide said.

In other words, nothing is really happening yet.  This is a procedural move that allows Democrats, and President Obama, to say they accomplished something…when in fact nothing of any substance has occurred.   Rumors earlier in the day said that there would be some saving-face vote on the floor of the House, but Ms. Pelosi could not force enough of her own caucus for event that meaningless event.  The Blue Dogs actually got what they want…no vote until after the break, in the hope that they can affect more change to minimze the damage this bill will cause them at home, and in the midterm elections.

So in the meantime, Congressmen will return to their districts, and the public will want some response from them regarding their worries about the bill.  This can only help, because the lack of real reform in this bill is staggering.  It will only become harder for conservative Democrats to vote for this ridiculous Obamacare bill.  In other words, this will come down to the American people; if they support the bill, they will have time to affirm that support; if not, I am sure every Congressperson will hear from constituents over the next month what they like and don’t like about the current bill.

P.S. – I had a further thought.  I thought this was stupid to begin with, but the more I think about it, the dumber it is.  The moderate Democrats are letting Waxman’s committee have a vote on a bill that they themselves currently don’t support.  So what does that do?  It gives people like me 4-6 weeks to tear apart the bill, and ask about every ridiculous provision in the bill while our members of Congress are at home, and make them defend those provisions.