In another example of the hypocrisy we see from the GOP, let’s have a look at that old “demon pass”:
Emphasis added. Back in March 2010, House Democrats were toying with using a similar process to pass health care reform. They were considering the Senate health care package, which they hated, and a package of amendments to that bill, which they liked. To square those views, they wanted to set up a procedural vote, which, if agreed to, would “deem” both bills passed at once. “Deem” and “pass.”
This quickly became known as “Demon Pass,” or the “Slaughter Solution,” named after House Rules Chair Louise Slaughter. Republicans rebelled, and conservatives went off the deep end. Radio talk show host Mark Levin called it “100 times worse than Watergate.”
Remember this? It was only a year ago and all the GOP and conservative media went bonkers, declaring it unconstitutional and even going as far as to call it “worse than Watergate”. John Boehner even gave a few teary eyed appearences over it. But that has all changed. We now have a new Congress and the party of whiners is now the party in control, so:
Welcome back to the so-called “Demon Pass“, which is scheduled to make its return to the Capitol Hill on January 5.
Because Democrats didn’t pass a budget, and because spending authority expires in early March, there’s a strong chance that the government will run out of money before the House and Senate agree to new spending levels. When that happens, under the new House rules, spending will continue — but at levels no higher than those chosen by the House Budget Committee chairman, Paul Ryan.
As soon as those rules are adopted on Wednesday, Ryan’s spending levels will be considered — or “deemed” — adopted by the full House as if they’d passed a budget with a floor vote. The legislative language in the rules package holds that Ryan’s spending limits, “shall be considered as contained in a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2011and the submission thereof into the Congressional Record shall be considered as the completion of congressional action on a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2011.”
So again we see that the Republicans feel these measures are only evil if the Democrats enact them. If the Republicans use the procedures, it’s all okay. How in the world can any Republican look the American people straight in the eye and defend this?