Doocy falsely suggests Byrd opposes reconciliation to finalize health care reform

Written by Christine Schwen

Published

Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy falsely suggested that Sen. Robert Byrd opposed using reconciliation to pass health care reform, citing comments Byrd made in 2001. However, Byrd recently defended use of reconciliation to complete passage of health care reform legislation already passed by both the House and the Senate.

Doocy suggests Byrd would oppose reconciliation to finalize health care reform bill

Doocy: Dems are “trying to do essentially what [Byrd] spoke out against.” During the March 12 edition of Fox & Friends, Doocy discussed comments Byrd made in 2001 critical of using reconciliation to pass major reform bills. After playing footage of Byrd's comments -- taken from a video first posted by the conservative website Naked Emperor News and promoted by Breitbart.tv -- Doocy stated:

DOOCY: So there you got the guy who invented reconciliation, and what a fantastic speaker he is on the -- was on the floor of the Senate. He's in declining health right now. But you've got to wonder how does he feel now regarding -- they're trying to do essentially what he spoke out against. Remember, essentially back in 1993, they tried to ram this through via reconciliation, and he said you can't do it. It was not designed for this purpose.

Byrd has defended possible use of reconciliation to finalize legislation already passed by the House and Senate

House and Senate have already passed health care reform bills. The Senate passed health care reform legislation with 60 votes on December 24, 2009. The CBO estimated that the bill would reduce the deficit by $118 billion over 10 years. The House passed its health care reform bill on November 7, 2009.

Byrd: “I continue to support the budget reconciliation process for deficit reduction.” In a March 4 letter to the editor published in the Charleston Daily Mail, Byrd stated that “the Senate should debate the health reform bill under regular rules, which it did [emphasis added]. The result of that debate was the passing of a comprehensive health care reform bill in the Senate by a 60-vote supermajority.” Byrd went on to defend the possible use of reconciliation to finalize passage of health care reform:

“I continue to support the budget reconciliation process for deficit reduction. The entire Senate- or House- passed health care bill could not and would not pass muster under the current reconciliation rules, which were established under my watch.

”Yet a bill structured to reduce deficits by, for example, finding savings in Medicare or lowering health care costs, may be consistent with the Budget Act, and appropriately considered under reconciliation."