Just as BlueCollar suspected – Mystery Solved! (Late night hat-tip to James Taranto)

The ‘Senate Bill’ which the House voted on and passed last night was, in fact, a Senate-amended version of the House Republican bill HR8, which had been sent to the Senate on August 1st where it was stalled these last 5 months.

After the Senate version passed, online stories on ABC-NBC-CBS-CNN universally reported it as a ‘Senate deal’ and a ‘Senate plan’. Why no mention of HR8?

Because not only would it have undermined the Democrat narrative of a ‘do-nothing’ GOP…admitting that House bill HR8 had been in the Senate since August 1st would have clearly emphasized the fact that it was the Democrats who had been obstructive.

HR8 originated in the House, was amended in the Senate, and that amended version has now been passed in the House, so it is law. A political party of conviction would have stripped out the offending amendments, and re-submitted it to the Senate…

…a gutless GOP would have done what they’ve done.