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The federal health care bill continues to meander through Congress. The latest twist is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to use an obscure parliamentary maneuver to ratify the bill, rather than a direct vote. That has brought down a torrent of criticism from Republicans. (Washington Post.)

Republicans spent much of Tuesday condemning the procedure.

Rep. Howard Coble of Greensboro had this to say:

Madam Speaker, this past weekend I visited with four of my six counties in North Carolina--Moore, Guilford, Davidson, and Rowan counties--hundreds of people, and without exception, no one spoke in favor of this bill. Increased taxes, they said to me, increased costs. The heavy-handed way in which it's been administered, as if to say, By golly, this is the bill you're going to get whether you like it or not.

Madam Speaker, this proposal is a train wreck waiting to occur. We need no train wrecks.

I will admit that some attention needs to be directed to the delivery of health care in this Nation, but this is not the appropriate vehicle to deliver it. We need to scrap this bill and start anew with a sound proposal.

Click here for the video.

Rep. Virginia Foxx of Banner Elk spoke twice. Here appearances are here and here. Among her thoughts:

This bill will not help our situation in terms of health care or health insurance. It does not reduce the cost of health insurance which was one of the goals the President said that he wanted. It does not solve any of the problems that we need to solve in health care. In fact, it makes those problems worse.

Yesterday I had a town hall in Statesville, North Carolina, with about 175 people there. They are very upset about this proposed health care reform bill. They understand that a lot of dirty tricks are being played here, and they don't like it. They don't like several aspects of the proposal that is being brought forth this week.

The Democrats who represent parts of Greensboro, Reps. Brad Miller and Mel Watt, did not speak on the floor. But Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield whose district is in the eastern part of the state did:

Madam Speaker, every process must end. After dozens of hearings on health care, we have all of the information that we need to create strong legislation to provide much needed health insurance reform. The American people cannot wait. It is time to vote.

Rising health care costs are crushing families and businesses, forcing small business owners to choose between health care and jobs. This isn't about politics or poll numbers. This is about making good on the promise of providing every American access to high quality, affordable health care. This is about having the courage to do what is right.

Click here for that video.