House Leaders Joust Over Use of Parliamentary Rule

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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is declining to say if Democrats have the votes to pass a health care overhaul
bill, indicating they're likely to use an arcane parliamentary process to avoid a direct up-or-down vote.

Hoyer's Republican counterpart, Rep. Eric Cantor, acknowledged the process is permissible. Under the procedure, a Senate-passed health bill would be "deemed" to have passed if House members voted in favor of a rule governing another bill.

But the Virginia congressman also said on CBS's "The Early Show" he couldn't understand how Democrats could use such a
parliamentary devise with so much at stake. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said it had been used "hundreds of times" before under Republican House Speakers Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert.