House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has been all over the media the past couple of days defending he and Pelosi’s apparent decision to use a procedural rule to “deem” the Senate health bill passed as part of the reconciliation package, rather than holding an actual floor vote on the bill. This “deem and pass” strategy, also known as a self-executing rule (or the “Slaughter rule”), could be critical for the House leadership to corral enough votes from reluctant Democrats.