10:55 a.m. — Well, that didn’t take long. The House is currently debating the rule for the bill (not the bill itself). And proceedings have screeched to a halt as Dems make repeated unanimous consent requests and Republicans demand regular order. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., says this is regular order. Hmm. This is going to get messy.

11:17 a.m. — To clarify what’s going on here: it does appear that Democrats are trying to stretch out the debate time by making repeated unanimous consent requests. Republicans, meanwhile, respond with parliamentary objections. It remains somewhat unclear as to why Democrats are stalling here. Possibly, the leadership needs this extra time to bring Democratic holdouts in line. Also, President Obama is expected to make a last minute appeal to the Democratic caucus late this morning. Regardless, proceedings have completely broken down.

11:31: a.m. — Now Republicans are doing the unanimous consent request marathon. Good times.

11:41 a.m. –Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., hold up health care bill to show that it’s big. Colleagues behind him smile and nod in agreement.

11:54 a.m. — Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., says the bill will mortgage the future of his 10 kids (!!).

12:03 p.m. — Just a note on what’s to come today. Following debate on the rule, the House will debate the bill itself; an amendment intended to assuage concerns of Democrats who oppose abortion rights (the amendment would bar coverage of abortions in plans offered through the exchanges); the GOP alternative health proposal; and a vote on final passage (after a number of possible procedural votes).

12:15 p.m. — Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, says the bill would destroy Medicare, which she says is a great program that many of her constituents rely on. She knows Medicare is a single payer system for seniors, right? Just asking…

12:17 p.m. — Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., just spoke in favor of the bill. This is noteworthy because he was among a handful of Democrats to vote against the bill in the Education and Labor Committee.

1:46 p.m. — House finally adopts rule for debate on health care overhaul. The chamber gives Dingell a round of applause. Without missing a beat, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, asks that the House agree by unanimous consent to give Dingell his chairmanship of Energy and Commerce Committee back.

2:09 p.m. — Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md: “[Today,] We’ll vote for a more perfect union of which our founders dreamed.”

2:14 p.m. — Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas: “I don’t think that it’s right to mandate health insurance, or you might go to jail.”

2:30p.m. — Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.: This bill moves us toward “the horror stories of Europe and Canada…” Then she quotes professional health policy bamboozler Betsy McCaughey. Oy.

2:36 p.m. — House GOP leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) asks if Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) will guarantee him that the abortion amendment (offered by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.) will make it onto the conference agreement (the final version of the bill). Waxman, not surprisingly, says that he can’t make such a promise.

3:05 Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.: “Might does not equal right.” Says Dems should not pass a health care bill simply because they have the majority to do so.

I’m missing something here. Candidate A (let’s call him “Obama”) runs on universal health care. On domestic policy, there was no issue more prominent during the campaign. Candidate A wins election. But to enact universal health care legislation once elected is apparently arrogant and outrageous.

3:16 p.m. — Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C. quotes Margaret Thatcher in arguing against government involvement in health care. Trying to remember when Margaret Thatcher tried to dismantle the NHS…

3:20 p.m. — Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is being uncharacteristically restrained. Debate has chilled by a factor of 10 since this morning.

Paging Michelle Bachmann, Alan Grayson, etc…

3:31 p.m. — Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., slams comparative effectiveness research. Then becomes the umpteenth GOPer to freak out over the bill’s size (2,000 pages). I’ve never understood this line of attack. There’s nothing intrinsically flawed about a long bill…

3:41 p.m. — Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., takes the mic while holding a baby. Says the baby doesn’t want her mother’s premium to increase. Baby keeps trying to grab the mic away from him.

3:44 p.m. — Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., throws exactly the kind of temper tantrum he is known for. He no longer has the floor but can be heard in the background screeching like a banshee.

4:00 p.m. — Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., demonstrates how he can barely lift the bill.

4:31 p.m. — Rep. John Linder, R-Ga.: “Everyone who has looked at this issue for years has said ’start with tort reform.’” Everyone says to start with tort reform? Even before, say, covering the uninsured, or insurance market reform?

10:24 p.m. — Live-blogging resumes for the finale. Stupak’s amendment passed by a vote of 240 to 194. The amendment would prohibit private health insurance plans participating in the exchanges from covering abortion. The House is now voting on the GOP substitute.

10:28 p.m. — The Republican substitute was defeated by a vote of 176 to 258.

10:31 p.m. — The Republicans are now offering a motion to recommit, which essentially sends the bill back to committee, and then back to the floor with an amendment. The amendment relates to tort reform.

10:34 p.m. “Prioritize” is not a word, Mr. Cantor. Just sayin’.

10:36 p.m. — Hard to say for sure without the motion in front of me, but it sounds like the motion to recommit would undo cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans (privately run alternatives to traditional Medicare).

11:07 p.m. — In the middle of the vote on final passage Dems break out in applause. The tally of “yes” votes just reached 218 (the number needed for passage).

11:11 p.m. — Looks like the Dems are getting one GOP “yes” vote. I’m betting it’s Joseph Cao, the Republican who defeated Bill Jefferson in a heavily Democratic Louisiana district.

11:15 p.m. — House passes health care bill, 220 to 215.