Since Speaker Pelosi announced she thought the “Slaughter Rule” could be used to ram though their plan without the House actually voting on the Senate bill, Democrats have been looking for any excuse possible to defend the controversial measure. Of course, they finally settled on their most common excuse for everything and shouted it at the top of their lungs: the Republicans did it, so can we!

Majority Leader Hoyer made this argument today:

“We’re playing it straight,” said Hoyer, referring to the method, sometimes referred to as a self-executing rule. “They used it 30 percent of the time. We used it 16 percent of the time.”

Interestingly, Verum Serum dug up some footage of then-Minority Whip Hoyer singing a different tune in 2003.

Now you not only don’t allow us to offer a substitute, you don’t allow us to offer amendments, you don’t even have the courage to PUT YOUR OWN BILL ON THE FLOOR.

The public probably doesn’t understand that. THIS IS A RULE, NOT THE BILL. We’re not debating the bill…

Why? To muzzle us, and to muzzle their folks who they don’t rely on to vote on the substance of this bill but HOPE AND PRAY they’ll get enough of their people on the procedural end of this bill to carry the day.

That’s unfortunate. Eighty-two billion dollars of deficit that Americans are going to have to pay for. My children are going to have to pay for. My grandchildren are going to have to pay for. And we don’t even have the courage to PUT THE BILL ON THE FLOOR, but this rule roosts…

Hoyer’s outrage was over an $82 billion bill, which is practically a rounding error in the current Congress. The Senate bill they are trying to ram though is over ten times that amount and we haven’t even heard what the final CBO figures are. Oddly enough, Hoyer is fine with the procedure now. Not only is he not outraged by it, he’s defending it.

Tags: Health Care, Hypocrisy, Steny Hoyer