SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
Sharron Angle (R-NV), a conservative former state legislator running to replace Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), told supporters on Friday that Congress may rely on unusual parliamentary maneuvers to pass Reid’s health care bill, a take-over proposal she said most Americans are against. The reason, said Angle, is that many House members cringe at the thought of having to face constituents should they vote for a Senate bill that is loaded with Reid’s deal-making bribes.
Angle said that Congressional members were considering inserting via the House Rules Committee a course of action known as a “self-executing rule” or a “hereby rule,” a procedural dodge that would allow the House to vote just once on reconciliation corrections without having to vote on Reid’s underlying Senate bill. In doing so, the self-executing rule would say that the Senate bill is assumed to be approved by the House even though no recognized vote had taken place on Reid’s actual bill, a bill considered too toxic by many vulnerable politicians running for reelection.
“Lawmakers want to be able to go home and tell their angry constituents that they did not vote for Harry Reid’s health care takeover, and theoretically they could be correct. It’s a deception, and a disregard for the office they represent. Congress has an obligation to uphold the Constitution, and in doing so there needs to be democratic accountability. Lawmakers can’t have it both ways,” said Angle.
Angle said the self-executing rule is unconstitutional and noted that it had been abused in the past although never for something as foul as trying to pass a law so deeply opposed by most Americans. Angle, no stranger to defending the Constitution all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, said that court challenges would be the next step should unconstitutional measures be used to pass Reid’s unwanted health care bill.
“In order for a bill to become law, it must first pass the House of Representatives and the Senate,” said Angle, citing Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution. “You would think that somebody sworn to protect the Constitution who has spent an entire life in office and would have taken a simple lesson in civics by now, but apparently the Constitution is not as important as Harry Reid’s shameless attempt to consent to a big-government takeover of nearly one-sixth of the economy.”
Angle said Reid is dancing with one foot in the fireplace, perhaps because he knows his days are over. “Harry Reid has been playing with matches for so long he cooked himself. He’s overdone, and now he’s ready to scorch the rest of us to advance President Obama’s agenda. He understands he is Public Enemy Number One on the voters watch list, so he’s willing to go down in flames before November.”
Angle signed a pledge earlier in the year promising to repeal Reid’s government takeover of the health care industry should she be elected to replace Reid in November.
