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GOP Seeks Resolution Promising Up-or-Down Health Care Vote

House Republicans on Tuesday will release their plan for a resolution that would require an up-or-down vote on the Senate health care reform legislation, according to GOP leadership aides with knowledge of the move.

The resolution, which Republican leaders plan to bring to the floor sometime this week, would block Democratic leaders from deeming the Senate bill as passed, according to GOP leadership aides. Republicans hope to at least force a vote on the resolution, even if they can’t force a vote on the overall bill.

“Democrats … are going to vote for the tax hikes, the Medicare cuts, the ‘Cornhusker kickback,’ the Louisiana purchase and every other stinking giveaway to Washington special interests that is in the Senate bill,” one GOP aide said.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters at a press conference Tuesday morning that Republicans would do everything in their power to derail the bill.

“Anybody thinks they can sneak this bill through, ‘deem it,’ all these other tricks, there’s no way to hide from the biggest vote that most Members of Congress will ever cast,” Boehner said. “We have to put all the pressure we can on these wavering Democrats to make sure that this bill never, ever, ever happens.”

Asked whether Republicans will engage in a series of procedural tactics to block the bill on the House floor, Boehner told reporters, “When you see them, you’ll know them.”

In a floor notice from Boehner’s office on Tuesday, Republican Members were encouraged to come to the floor and give one-minute speeches — a tactic the minority party has used several times over the past year to slow down debate on bills they have opposed.

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