House members stake healthcare positions

WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- U.S. House members, one by one, spoke for 60 seconds Tuesday on the benefits or ills of a healthcare reform bill and the way it could move through the chamber.

Democrats spoke of fairness, abuses by health insurers and the need for providing Americans with affordable insurance. Republicans spoke of a government takeover of insurance and Democrats striking deals behind closed doors, and questioned the constitutionality of moving the Senate bill through the House without a direct vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested using the procedural maneuver -- known as a "self-executing rule" or a "deem and pass" -- meaning the House would vote on a package of changes to the Senate bill, which then could signify representatives "deem" the Senate healthcare bill to passed.

Such a move is "a parlor trick" said Jeff Miller, R-Fla., expressing outrage at the bill and the process.

"You should be ashamed," Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, said to Pelosi for considering a process he and other Republicans called shady.

Several Republicans charged the effort to move the bill through without an actual vote violated several articles of the Constitution -- while several Democrats noted Republicans used the process numerous times when they were in the majority.

Pelosi's consideration of the deem-and-pass tactic demonstrates the bill lacks the votes to survive a straight up-or-down vote, several Republicans said.

"Where's the accountability?" asked Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. "Where's the transparency?"

More than one Republican urged colleagues to "kill the bill," with Erik Paulson, R-Minn., saying an attempt to pass the massive legislation "without members even voting on it" demonstrated the "arrogance in Washington" disliked beyond the beltway.

Fellow Minnesotan Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat, said to hear the Republicans talk "you'd think they cared" even though "they did nothing" when they controlled Congress and won the White House.

Rep. John Larson, D-Conn, told colleagues they need to decide "whose side you're on."

"Are you siding with the industry," which has done a "great job" on raising rates, he asked, or "are you standing for the American people."

Several Republicans called the plan "socialism," prompting Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., to say he was "tired of this talk of socialism."

If Republicans were so repulsed by government programs, Hastings said, "let's eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security" the Center for Disease Control and the National Institutes for Health because they, too, are government-run programs.