Follow-Up to Previous 'Red Alert' on Healthcare

Some of you were distressed to read this red alert from the wee hours of Friday morning.

Here is the follow-up and the explanation of what happened.

Apparently someone at FreedomWorks got wind from an informant in Congress that Harry Reid was secretly planning a strategy to pass the massive government takeover of healthcare TODAY.

Reid had reportedly consulted with House leaders to reach a deal that would allow him to simultaneously present the Senate bill for a vote while the House would vote to substitute the Reid bill for its own bill, thus meaning that in one concurrent vote the U.S. Congress would pass ObamaCare in short order...by today.

In order to pull this off Reid would have had to cancel all Senate meetings on Friday in order to work on the plan.

Several things happened to prevent any of this from taking place.

First, despite Reid's public pronouncements that claim broad support for the healthcare bill in its present form, there is still significant opposition among the Democrats. Senators Nelson, Bayh, and Lincoln are said to be livid that an amendment was voted down that would have barred federal funds--taxpayers' money--from funding abortions. These Senators have stated they will not vote for any bill that contains taxpayer funding for abortion.

One caveat to all of this--Reid claims he can afford to lose the support of a few Democrats since he will pick up the support of GOP RINOS Snowe and Collins. He may even have the support of Lieberman now that the public option in the bill has been tweaked, although Lieberman insists he will oppose any bill that contains it.

Second, Reid may be timid about presenting a bill for vote that is not yet a sure fire deal. To lose would be a major embarrassment for Reid, Pelosi, the Democratic-controlled Congress, and the Obama Administration.

Third, by 'outing' Reid's behind-the-scenes maneuvering, FreedomWorks may well have foiled the entire scheme, which was entirely dependent on its sudden shock value.

Thus, for now, the healthcare bill is not up for a vote. But the Democratic leadership insists that it will be approved by Christmas.