By Adam Allington, St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis, MO – House Republicans were livid on Wednesday amid reports that Democrats may employ a controversial endgame maneuver to avoid an up-or-down vote on health care legislation.
The process known as the "Self Executing Rule" or "Deem and Pass" would allow Congress to approve the Senate version of the healthcare bill and add a list of amendments at a later date.
Republican Congressman Todd Akin says the bill is so bad that even Democrats don't want to be on the record supporting it.
"It basically takes us down the primrose path of all these sniveling socialist states in Europe," says Akin. "They are struggling economically because they've got the government doing all these free hand outs and are a magnet for all kinds of immigrants from the Third World."
Despite the criticism the GOP is also no stranger to the "Deem and Pass" measure, using the same tactic dozens of times when they held congressional majorities.
St. Louis Congressman Russ Carnahan says his constituents have told him they want to see the House "get the job done on healthcare."
"Here's the deal, the folks that are opposed to healthcare reform, they want to spend a lot of time complaining about the process and avoiding talking about the substance," says Carnahan.
Carnahan says he does believe Congress should take an up or down vote and is still optimistic that it will happen.