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GOP Will Bring Typo Fix to House Floor

Republicans plan to use some procedural gymnastics to fix a typo in their regulatory moratorium bill.

The House will vote Thursday on a rule with a self-executing amendment fixing the typo, Rules Committee spokesman Doug Andres said.

The vote on the rule will deem the amendment to have been passed to the bill that will still be under consideration by the House, that is to say, before its final vote.

The initial GOP bill was intended to ban new regulations until the unemployment rate reached 6 percent, but a typo would put the moratorium in place until 6 percent “employment.”

Democrats found the error and pointed it out to reporters after the House had approved the rule governing its floor debate Tuesday.

Republicans asked Democrats if they would provide unanimous consent on the House floor to fix the typo, but Democrats declined, prompting the need for the amendment.

Democrats pushed for an open rule on the bill that would allow floor consideration of dozens of amendments beyond the 25 that Republicans permitted.

The Rules Committee approved the amendment in a six-minute meeting late Wednesday.

Rules Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) apologized for and took “full responsibility” for the typo. Dreier said the incident provided laughs earlier today for an audience of legislators from recently formed democracies in Eastern Europe who are visiting Washington, D.C.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) offered an amendment for an open rule that was defeated on a party-line vote.

On the vote for the amendment, Slaughter initially voted in favor of it before quickly realizing her mistake and voting against it. “We all make mistakes,” she said.

Updated, 5:29 p.m.

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