Now that the Health Care reconciliation-fix bill has been posted on the Internet, the 72 hour clock begins counting down to a possible mid-afternoon vote on the House floor this Sunday. This 72 hour “rule” was loosely implemented by Speaker Pelosi back in September of 2009. This was when House members were about to garner enough votes to pass a discharge petition that would require any legislation to be posted on the Internet for 72 hours before a final vote could occur on the House floor. When the Speaker saw the writing on the wall, she embraced the new timetable and thus this 72 hour timetable has been an informal rule in the House ever since. While the clock is ticking, Sen. Coburn and other GOP Senators have directed some of their staff to begin pouring over appropriations bills that will be coming through the House and Senate later this spring. These staffers will be looking for any projects in states or districts of Members of Congress that support the upcoming Health Care bill. In his press conference on Thursday, Sen. Coburn promised to “out” any Members of Congress that might sell his or her vote on the Health Care bill for projects in their state.

This 72 hour clock has another implication which could also affect the Health Care vote. However this 72 hours deals with House Rule 27. (Hum….72 backwards!)  You see this rule came into effect in Jan. of 2008 and requires House members to disclose any discussion that may take place regarding their future employment. The Member of the House must disclose this discussion to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, within 72 hours.  In addition, the House Member, if he/she doesn’t want to be in violation of Rule 27, must also recuse himself or herself from any legislative work on a matter that perpetuates this possible future employment. Legislative work would of course include casting roll call votes in favor of such legislation.

Interestingly enough, the Senate has a very similar rule on their books. Senate Rule 37 requires any Senator to disclose his/her employment discussions to the Secretary of the Senate, for public disclosure, again, within 72 hours. Who knew how important 72 hours could be until this Health Care debate began… about 72 months ago.

Stay tuned…