Health care passage mutes Cox threat

The Democratic health care reform bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Sunday night through normal parliamentary procedures rather than under the self-executing “deem and pass” rule, as some had suggested might be done. That reality effectively mutes the threat by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, made in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that the state of Michigan would join with others to challenge the constitutionality of passing the bill through that controversial procedure.

The “deem and pass” rule allows the passage of two bills simultaneously by voting for the second bill, making changes in the first, with the first bill then being self-executing as a result of the passage of the second. Though it is not a routine means of passing bills, it’s also not terribly unusual. The Republicans have used it themselves dozens of times over the years.

As is nearly always the case in such disputes, both parties have been on both sides of the issue in the past. Whichever party is in the majority is for it, whichever party is in the minority is against it — and when that balance tips, they merely exchange scripts and begin reading their new lines, complete with faux outrage and pretend sincerity.