Confusion over the Slaughter Plan

I’ve read several articles now on the “Slaughter Solution,” which a reader discussed last night: Daniel Foster’s two items at NRO (here and here); an article (in pdf) he linked at National Journal; an article in the Washington Examiner; and an entry at Powerline. These pieces suggests various explanations of what the purpose of the Slaughter Rule is, but none of them nails it down. The possibilities include: (1) It’s a way of combining the two bills into one; (2) it’s a way for members to avoid taking responsibility for voting for the Senate bill; (3) it’s a way to pass the additional changes without passing the Senate bill, thus obviating the possibility that the president could sign into law the passed Senate bill without the changes; (4) it’s a way for the House to avoid voting for the Senate bill altogether, because they can’t pass it.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 11, 2010 11:55 AM | Send