House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) today acknowledged that comments from the Senate parliamentarian precludes the House from passing reconciliation fixes to health-care without first passing the Senate bill. Pelosi told reporters she will do just that:

“The bills that have passed, ours with 220 in the House, theirs with 60 in the Senate, we’ll be acting upon the Senate bill with changes that were in the House bill reflected in the reconciliation. So in order to have the Senate bill be the basis and build upon it with the reconciliation, you have to pass the Senate bill, or else you’re talking about starting from scratch. So we will pass the Senate bill. Once we pass it, the President signs it or doesn’t, it’s – people would rather he waited until the Senate acted, but the Senate Parliamentarian, as you have said, said in order for them to do a reconciliation based on the Senate bill, it must be signed by the President.”

It is looking increasingly likely that Pelosi will employ the “Slaughter Rule,” a complex legislative maneuver that could allow the House to avoid a direct up-or-down vote on the Senate bill.

In a conference call with reporters, including NRO, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) commented on the House’s plan.

“It doesn’t solve their political problem,” McConnell said of the maneuver. “The Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, Gator-Aid. . . . Every member of the House of Representatives who votes for the Senate bill will have voted for all these things.”

McConnell continued, saying the employment of the Slaughter Rule would at best reveal House Democrats as flip-floppers. “It’s not solvable. . . . And even if by some hook or crook or maneuver or parliamentary device some of [the special deals] will be removed, then the position they will be in is that they will have voted for these measures before they voted against them.”

“The reason all this arm-twisting and parliamentary maneuvers is going on is because people hate this bill,” McConnell said.

But CongressDaily reports that, despite the verbal guidance of the Senate parliamentarian that the reconciliation process cannot start until the Senate bill is passed by the House and signed into law, the House is undeterred in pursuing the rule as a means of passing health-care reform.

Rep. David Dreier (R., Calif.) ranking member of the House rules committee, said in a statement that “the Democratic Majority [sic] is further undermining the public’s confidence in them by resorting to outlandish schemes like the Slaughter Solution. It seems nothing can convince them that they are headed down a dangerous path that flouts the will of the American people and the (small-d) democratic process.”