Breaking! Morris' “exclusive” on the “secret plan for Obamacare” has been reported publicly for weeks
Written by Justin Berrier
Published
On January 24, Dick Morris wrote an article for Newsmax entitled “Pelosi and Reid Plot Secret Plan for Obamacare,” and Fox Nation linked to it under the headline “Exclusive: Reid & Pelosi's Secret Plot to Pass Obamacare”:
According to Morris, he found out through “highly informed sources on Capitol Hill” that Democratic leadership has a “plan to sneak Obamacare through Congress.” Morris reveals that this is a “secret” two part plan. First, the House will pass the Senate's health care bill, despite ideological differences. Next, Congress will modify the bill after passage through a Senate process called “reconciliation” which requires a simple majority vote in the Senate and is not subject to filibusters. Morris claims that through putting pressure on “a core group of 23 Democratic Congressman,” this “secret” plot can be averted.
Morris is correct that this is one plan that has been floated as a possibility for passing health care reform, but his assertion that this is a “secret” plot between Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid is laughable considering that this very approach to passing health care reform has been reported on extensively by left-wing blogs, right-wing blogs, and the mainstream media since the election of Scott Brown in Massachusett's January 19 special election. For instance, here's CBS on January 22:
Scott Brown's victory in the Massachusetts Senate special election essentially obliterated any chance Democrats in the Senate had at passing a revised health care reform bill. In the wake of that blow to Democrats, two options for passing reform have emerged:
One option would be for House Democrats to pass the Senate bill -- on the condition that Democrats would make revisions to the legislation through a separate “fix it” bill passed in the Senate via reconciliation (a procedural step that only requires a 51-vote majority).
The Baltimore Sun on January 21:
Democratic leaders are still exploring whether the House could pass the health care bill approved by the Senate just before Christmas, obviating the need for another vote on major health care legislation in the Senate, where Democrats would no longer be able overcome a Republican filibuster.
The two chambers could then take up a separate package of changes to the Senate bill through a process known as budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority in the Senate.
The New York Times on January 21:
Another option considered by Democrats would be to use the procedural maneuver known as reconciliation to pass chunks of the health care bill attached to a budget measure, which requires only a simple majority.
You get the point.