House Republicans leaders will attempt Thursday to force a vote on a resolution that would block Democrats from deeming the Senate health care reform bill as passed.
The resolution, which requires the House to take an up-or-down vote on the Senate-passed health care bill, will be introduced by recent party-switcher Rep. Parker Griffith (R-La.), according to an early version of a press release from Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).
The release indicated that the resolution would be offered as a previous question to a non-health-care-related rule on the suspension authority — a motion that is expected to hit the floor Thursday afternoon.
The procedural maneuver will come after a closed-door, bicameral Republican Conference meeting that is scheduled to take place at 9:45 a.m. Thursday inside the House chamber.
The huddle will focus on ways that Republicans can continue to present a united front against the health care reform bill in the final days of debate, according to GOP aides familiar with the meeting.
Meanwhile, House GOP leaders joined forces with Rules Committee Republicans on Wednesday to press Democratic leaders to allow cameras to broadcast the committee’s debate over the health care reform bill and to move the meeting to a larger room.
Rules ranking member David Dreier (R-Calif.) told reporters that the current committee room on the third floor of the Capitol was too small and suggested moving the hearing to a room in the Capitol Visitor Center.
“I have often said process is substance, and never has that been the case more than this week,” Dreier said. “If we are going to see the federal government contemplate taking over one-sixth of the economy, we need a bigger room.”
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