WASHINGTON, DC – At a press conference this morning with House & Senate GOP leaders, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) dismissed President Obama’s sales pitch to rank-and-file Democrats that “the fate of his presidency” is on the line with the upcoming health care vote and also discussed the House vote expected today on the resolution offered by Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL) to block the “Slaughter Solution”:

“Well, it’s pretty clear that Democrat leaders here in Congress and the President aren’t listening to the American people.  Because the American people are saying, ‘stop!’ and they’re screaming at the top of their lungs.  The President’s latest ploy as he’s dealing with Members trying to convince them to vote against their constituents and to vote with him, is to make the point that his presidency is on the line.  Well, I’m sorry Mr. President, this isn’t about you.  It’s not about the office you hold and it’s not about the Speaker.  This is about the American people and the health care system that they want for our country.  We’ve made clear that it’s time to scrap this bill and start over on commonsense reforms to make our current health care system better.  But no, they are going to continue to ram, ram, ram this bill through the Congress.  Every kind of scheme known to man to try and get it through the Congress without a vote.

“We’re going to have an opportunity for the Members today to vote on a straight up-or-down resolution, about requiring a straight up-or-down vote on this bill.  It’ll be part of our Previous Question when we get a Rule bill up, and Members will have a chance to vote on that.  But I can tell you this, that Republicans in the House and Senate have worked closely together or the last year, and we’re going to continue to work closely together to do everything that we can do to make sure that this bill never, ever, ever passes.”

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GOP Leader: “The ‘Slaughter Solution’ has sparked widespread outrage because it’s designed to protect Washington politicians when it’s American taxpayers we should be looking out for.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) announced that House Republicans will force a vote tomorrow on a resolution requiring a clean, up-or-down vote on the Senate-passed health care bill.  If adopted by the House, the resolution would prohibit Speaker Pelosi and Democratic Leaders from implementing the “Slaughter Solution,” the controversial scheme by which the Senate health care bill would be deemed as passed by the House without an actual up-or-down vote.

“The ‘Slaughter Solution’ has sparked widespread outrage because it’s designed to protect Washington politicians when it’s American taxpayers we should be looking out for,” Boehner said. “Speaker Pelosi and Democratic Leaders, who promised to lead the ‘most open’ Congress in history, thought they could pull a fast one on the American people, but they were wrong. This vote will give Democrats an opportunity to demonstrate whether they share Republicans’ commitment to ensuring the American people get what they deserve: a clean, up-or-down vote on the Senate health care bill.  The stakes are too high, and this bill is too controversial, for anything less than total accountability.”

House Republicans will offer the text of the resolution as the “PQ” (“previous question”) for the suspension authority rule that is expected to be considered on the floor Thursday.  The text of the resolution, introduced by Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL) – a former Democrat who switched to the GOP in December out of disgust with Washington Democrats’ government takeover of health care –  is available here.

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DEM LEADERS, TAKING A PUMMELING OVER CONTROVERSIAL “SLAUGHTER SOLUTION,” CAN’T GET TOGETHER ON VOTES, VOTE TIMELINE, BILL TEXT & CBO SCORE

March 16, 2010 | House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) | Permalink

Not exactly a banner day for Democratic leaders’ final push to force a job-killing government takeover of health care through Congress.  Democrats have come under heavy criticism for again resorting to underhanded tactics after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) first announced yesterday she would implement the controversial “Slaughter Solution” to force a health care bill through the House without actually voting on it.  Speaker Pelosi now faces the prospect of a vote in the House forced by Republicans on whether the American people should get an up-or-down vote on the Senate health care bill.  With Democrats firmly on the defensive, the top four House Democratic leaders disagree with one another on whether they have the votes to pass a bill, and when such a vote would take place.  The text of the bill itself has yet to materialize, along with a CBO score, despite the fact that Democratic leaders claimed both would be available yesterday.  Now Speaker Pelosi is saying she really hasn’t decided on whether to use the “Slaughter Solution.”  And Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says Americans should be “unconcerned” about how this job-killing monstrosity gets passed?  Go on, tell us another joke. Read the rest of this entry »