By David Lightman
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON – As the battle over health care legislation built Monday toward a weekend crescendo, congressional Democrats considered trying to pass the controversial Senate version without voting for it, a tactic that Republicans and independent analysts warned could be politically treacherous and perhaps unconstitutional.
Under the plan, the House of Representatives would approve the Senate bill by “deeming” it to have passed as part of a separate measure governing the rules of a House debate on a follow-up health care measure. That follow-up legislation will be designed to change certain controversial portions of the Senate-passed version, a path more palatable to House Democrats who fear that voting for the Senate bill could backfire against them in elections this fall.
The maneuver would enable House members to avoid casting a politically risky vote on the Senate package, and to say they voted only for the more popular follow-up measure.