Two days before an expected vote on health care reform, local political activists on the right and two Republican U.S. House hopefuls seized on a procedural vote as purported proof that Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, hasn’t done enough to stop the bill he’s pledged to vote against.

The vote in question took place Thursday and scuttled chances of a later vote that Republicans wanted on a resolution to block the so-called “deem and pass” procedure.

Democratic lawmakers are contemplating using that procedure to pass the health care program with a single vote (on a package of changes to an already-passed Senate bill), as opposed to two votes (on such changes and on the Senate bill itself).

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, has come under fire from Republican opponents for a procedural vote on the health care bill in Congress.
Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald, file

While Edwards said he’s against using such a maneuver, he voted on a motion that blocked a GOP-sponsored resolution — that, in turn, would have blocked “deem and pass” from being used — from getting an up-and-down vote.

In a release, Edwards said if the resolution had passed, it would have prevented House members from working on noncontroversial, bipartisan legislative work while waiting for the key health care votes expected Sunday.

That’s when a vote on the use of “deem and pass” is likely to be held.

The Waco Tea Party, in an e-mail to its members, said Edwards had “violated his own promise” to oppose health care reform.

A release issued by Republican House candidate Bill Flores faulted Edwards for not doing “everything in his power to stop” health care reform.

And Rob Curnock, who’s competing with Flores in a runoff, called Edwards “disingenuous.”

Edwards said Republicans were trying to use a complicated procedural vote to distort his stance.

“It is a shame that some are so desperate to misrepresent my position on the health care bill that they will say anything,” Edwards said.

Amid the larger debate over health care, Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said it would be difficult for Republicans to get political mileage out of Edwards’ procedural vote.

The complexity concerning what the vote signifies, the time between now and the November general election, and Edwards’ outspoken opposition to the health care legislation all make it hard to effectively use the procedural decision against the congressman, Jillson said.

While Jillson said there are people in the congressional district who will press Edwards to use every vote between now and Sunday to impede progress on health care, “there’s no way on God’s green earth that any of the people asking him that would vote for him anyway.”

On Friday, activists in Waco on both sides of the health care debate were in the midst of last-minute efforts to sway the outcome of the bill.

Volunteers at the Waco Organizing for America office, an arm of the Democratic National Committee, were making calls across the country urging supporters of health care reform to get in touch with their representatives.

The Waco Tea Party was getting money together to send a member to Washington to join a protest planned there.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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