After Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)’s exasperated halting of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s health overhaul bill markup — done because of problems in negotiations that Waxman insists are going “well” — Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) took to the House floor to make his one-minute address.

In a departure from the GOP theme of today’s minute speeches — “finding the jobs” — Blunt used his time to propose an amendment to the health overhaul bill that would force federal officials from the President to Congress to put their health care money where their mouths are, and to accept the Democrats’ proposed “public option” — or government-run insurance plan — as their sole source of health coverage.

Blunt said:

Mr. Speaker, if the Energy and Commerce Committee had continued to work today, I would have introduced an amendment to require all federal elected officials, including the President and Vice President, to set aside our health care benefits and enroll in their new idea of a government-run health care system. If the majority is really so confident that their plan will provide the very best health care for the people we represent, we ought to demonstrate that confidence by enrolling ourselves.

I, for one, don’t believe a government-run health care plan will be the best for the people we represent, but a government competitor will soon be all that is left.

A government competitor, Mr. Speaker, would be like an elephant in a room full of mice. The fast mice get out of the room as quick as they can, the slow mice get crushed, and only the elephant is left.

That’s a great proposal. Naturally, it won’t make it anywhere in this “One Set Of Rules For Me, Another For Thee” Congress, but the fact they keep shooting down such proposals should make clear to the American people just how little elected Democrats think of the “options” they present their constituents in such vital areas as health care.