Pelosi commits to 72-hour wait before health vote

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has committed to a 72-hour waiting period between posting healthcare legislation online and a final vote on the bill.

A Pelosi spokesman confirmed that the speaker has agreed to Republicans' demands for a three day window of time before voting on the bill.

House GOP members had introduced a discharge petition to require the 72-hour period for lawmakers to read all bills, a petition onto which some centrist House Democrats had signed.

Republicans have made political hay of lawmakers inability or disinclination to "read the bill" for weeks now since preliminary health bills were passed out of key House committees in late July. GOP leaders had also leveled similar charges against the climate change and stimulus bills during House debates earlier this year.

Senate Democrats blocked a similar request posed in an amendment on Wednesday by Senate Republicans during a vote of the Senate Finance Committee.

A spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) suggested Thursday that Pelosi's promise should be taken with a grain of salt.

"House Democrats actually voted to post the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' bill online for 48 hours before a vote and then broke that promise, so this should be taken with a large grain of salt," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

The Weekly Standard asked Pelosi about the discharge petition at her press conference, to which the speaker responded that she'd "absolutely" support it.

Updated at 1:44 p.m.