Morning Bell: The Up or Down Vote Our Country Really Deserves | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Morning Bell: The Up or Down Vote Our Country Really Deserves | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.: "President Barack Obama is touring the country asking for an up-or-down vote on his health care plan. Forget for a second that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) can schedule an up-or-down vote on the Senate health care bill any time she wants, and keep in mind that while Democrats are trying to create the legislative text for President Obama’s “new” health care proposal, Senate Democrats are also pushing to include student lending provisions in the reconciliation bill. What does student lending have to do with health care you might ask? Nothing. But the Senate routinely attaches seemingly unrelated matters to must-pass legislation.

That is what makes Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) refusal to honor Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) request to offer an amendment funding the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP) to the American Workers, State and Business Relief Act so transparently hypocritical. Lieberman has been fighting for months to get an up-or-down vote on the DCOSP and saw a good opportunity with the Business Relief Act. But Reid prevented an up-or-down vote by ruling Lieberman’s amendment “not germane” to the underlying legislation. When has that ever stopped the Senate before?"