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Baird gets small victory on 72-hour rule, but …

• Published October 29, 2009

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We still don't know what U.S. Rep. Brian Baird plans to do when H.R. 3200 comes up for a vote to reform health care delivery. He might not know, either, it appears.

But this morning's CNN report on the U.S. House leaders' consolidated health-care plan says the majority Democrats have agreed to post details online next week and allow 72 hours' time before any vote.

That would be a partial victory for Baird and allies who recently won an award for trying to invoke a 72-hour rule for voting on legislation. Of course, Baird wants more: a vote to adopt such a rule for all major bills.

It's not clear what the new plan does for Baird's recent move less than two weeks ago to offer up a whole new reform plan that would reconfigure several existing government health-care plans while also drastically reforming the U.S. Tax Code.

The best guess is his ideas are as dead as they seemed to be on arrival. People on both sides of the aisle didn't seem to care much for the six-term Democrat’s plan.

David Castillo, one of the Republicans challenging Baird in the 2010 race, ripped Baird's plan right out of the blocks as an act of grandstanding, as the Columbian's Kathie Durbin reported.

Most recently, Jon DeVore at Horsesass.org published this open letter to Baird.

If the House starts debating late next week, we should know before long where Baird and the rest of the Washington delegation stand. Adding the 72-hour rule to the bill takes away one motive Baird would have to vote against it, as he has hinted before.