NTU urges all Representatives to vote “NO” on the previous question for the rule to H. Res. 1190, a resolution to provide for consideration of motions to suspend the rules. House leaders have considered using a deceptive procedural trick that would “deem” the Senate’s health care legislation as passed without holding an actual vote on the package. Voting “No” on the previous question would prevent this so-called “Slaughter Solution” from proceeding unchallenged, thereby allowing a resolution from Representative Parker Griffith to receive consideration.
Accordingly, NTU would urge all Representatives to vote “YES” on the Griffith Resolution, H.Res. 1188, which would force the House to hold an up or down vote on the Senate’s health care legislation. If passed, the Griffith Resolution would effectively block attempts to skirt a vote on legislation amounting to trillions of dollars in unbridled spending, tax hikes, and a more powerful, less accountable government.
These maneuvers have been cloaked with innocuous terms such as “self-executing rules,” but as with Congress’s perennial attempts to duck accountability for raising its own compensation, the American people will not be fooled. Indeed, they will only be angered further over a process characterized by promises of transparency that are consistently broken. From failure to provide the public with adequate time to review legislation, to a lack of televised negotiation proceedings, from cynical political vote-buying deals to the procedural gymnastics we are witnessing now, Members of Congress are only further tarnishing their credibility in the eyes of the people who sent them to Washington with far higher expectations. The legislation being helped along by these strange tactics is itself based on illusions. Despite cleverly engineered provisions designed to rig cost estimates, the plan will not spare middle-class Americans from paying higher taxes, nor will it spare future generations from saddling additional debts. Whether they support the legislation or not, however, the least our already skeptical citizens deserve is an up or down vote by the leaders who serve them. We ask that you consider your constituents’ interests above your own. Please fight for transparency and accountability in the form of a health care VOTE, rather than a dishonest political ploy.
Roll call votes on this previous question and the Griffith Resolution will be significantly weighted in our annual Rating of Congress.
If you have any questions, please contact NTU Federal Government Affairs Manager Jordan Forbes at (703) 683-5700.*********************************************