Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) Porker of the Month for conjuring up an eponymous House “rule” that would have allowed House Democrats to ram through the $2.3 trillion healthcare reform bill without directly voting on it. The invocation of the “Slaughter Rule” was one of the last steps in the tortured journey of the bloated, expensive healthcare bill. In an effort to absolve vulnerable House Democrats of having to take an unpopular vote on the Senate version of the bill without an ironclad guarantee that the Senate would later enact corrections to the most toxic provisions, Chairwoman Slaughter jury-rigged a proposed “self-enacting” rule that would allow the House to vote to “deem” the Senate bill as passed without forcing members to cast individual votes up or down. To quote former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, “Last year, the House was passing bills without reading them. This year, they’re passing bills without voting on them.” This mind-boggling disintegration of the legislative process into procedural travesty enabled by Chairwoman Slaughter provoked questions of constitutionality, fairness, and transparency, and in the end was not used to pass the abominable healthcare bill. For her mindless slaughter of the legislative process and leading an assault on the credibility of Congress, House Rules Committee Chairwoman Slaughter is CAGW’s March Porker of the Month.
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