Senator Olympia Snowe Joins Dems on Health Care Legislation
posted by: Marc Seltzer 66 days ago
Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe today backed the Democratic health care legislation in the Senate Finance Committee. The vote today will pass the legislation out of the committee to the full Senate. Four other proposals have passed legislative committees, though this is the first to gain a single Republican endorsement.
At least initially, the support of Senator Snowe is important in several respects:
She is a highly regarded moderate, recognized for her desire to guide reform efforts to control health care spending and limit the growth of the bureaucracy. Her positions often appeal to independents and centrists, a segment of the electorate with significant voting power.
In this light Democrats can claim bi-partisan support. While having only one vote at this stage may seem like a lark, Ms. Snowe is a Senate heavyweight and her name carries more than her number.
Too soon to tell, but if Ms. Snowe backs the bill, it seems likely that conservative Democrats, who have challenged the other proposals, would be able to support something akin to the Finance Committee proposal.
In addition, Ms. Snowe gives weight to the Finance Committee bill as its provisions now appear more likely to gain some bi-partisan support in Congress at large. She expressly made no guarantees about her vote in the full Senate on later versions of legislation, but the committee endorsement is none-the-less a signficant call to all Republicans to take a serious look at this legislation.
She provides momentum to the Democratic majority in the Senate. The Dems have a fragile 60-vote coalition. It was entirely possible that the Democratic Senate could break a Republican fillibuster and then obtain a simple majority vote on legislation. But Senator Snowe makes the prospect of a Senate filibuster that much more unlikely, and suggests that more centrist Republicans may step up to support reform.
In her remarks, available on NPR (click here and scroll down), Ms. Snowe said the crucial aim of legislation is to make health care insurance affordable to all Americans. She said, "Affordability continues to be my paramount concern."
Her endorsement was not without qualification. She said she believed that more could be done and should be done before the bill would be sent to the President. And she asked that the legislation be analyzed for budget impacts with the results posted on the Internet well in advance of the vote.
She also called for bi-partisan support of the legislation and suggested there was value in working towards a bi-partisan approach rather than single-party legislation. "The majority has the votes; it has the votes in the House and it has the votes in the Senate, but it shouldn't be about the mathamatics of vote-counting, but rather the mechnics of getting the best policy."
All five legislative proposals passed through committees will now be managed by leadership in an ongoing process towards presenting a single piece of legislation in each chamber. More progressive approaches are contained in the other legislative proposals. There is no clear picture as of yet as to what a final bill would contain, but today's vote makes substantial reform containing financial controls and subsidies for the uninsured much more likely.
Saying "history calls," Snowe said "The consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the momunental issues of our time."
Recent discussions of the bill and the vote: Associated Press, AP, NYT and text of America's Healthy Future Act.
Elements of the Senate Finance Bill: Taxing Health Insurance Plans and mandating the purchase of insurance.
At least initially, the support of Senator Snowe is important in several respects:
She is a highly regarded moderate, recognized for her desire to guide reform efforts to control health care spending and limit the growth of the bureaucracy. Her positions often appeal to independents and centrists, a segment of the electorate with significant voting power.
In this light Democrats can claim bi-partisan support. While having only one vote at this stage may seem like a lark, Ms. Snowe is a Senate heavyweight and her name carries more than her number.
Too soon to tell, but if Ms. Snowe backs the bill, it seems likely that conservative Democrats, who have challenged the other proposals, would be able to support something akin to the Finance Committee proposal.
In addition, Ms. Snowe gives weight to the Finance Committee bill as its provisions now appear more likely to gain some bi-partisan support in Congress at large. She expressly made no guarantees about her vote in the full Senate on later versions of legislation, but the committee endorsement is none-the-less a signficant call to all Republicans to take a serious look at this legislation.
She provides momentum to the Democratic majority in the Senate. The Dems have a fragile 60-vote coalition. It was entirely possible that the Democratic Senate could break a Republican fillibuster and then obtain a simple majority vote on legislation. But Senator Snowe makes the prospect of a Senate filibuster that much more unlikely, and suggests that more centrist Republicans may step up to support reform.
In her remarks, available on NPR (click here and scroll down), Ms. Snowe said the crucial aim of legislation is to make health care insurance affordable to all Americans. She said, "Affordability continues to be my paramount concern."
Her endorsement was not without qualification. She said she believed that more could be done and should be done before the bill would be sent to the President. And she asked that the legislation be analyzed for budget impacts with the results posted on the Internet well in advance of the vote.
She also called for bi-partisan support of the legislation and suggested there was value in working towards a bi-partisan approach rather than single-party legislation. "The majority has the votes; it has the votes in the House and it has the votes in the Senate, but it shouldn't be about the mathamatics of vote-counting, but rather the mechnics of getting the best policy."
All five legislative proposals passed through committees will now be managed by leadership in an ongoing process towards presenting a single piece of legislation in each chamber. More progressive approaches are contained in the other legislative proposals. There is no clear picture as of yet as to what a final bill would contain, but today's vote makes substantial reform containing financial controls and subsidies for the uninsured much more likely.
Saying "history calls," Snowe said "The consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the momunental issues of our time."
Recent discussions of the bill and the vote: Associated Press, AP, NYT and text of America's Healthy Future Act.
Elements of the Senate Finance Bill: Taxing Health Insurance Plans and mandating the purchase of insurance.
Read more: snowe, health care reform, health insurance reform
comments
Thank God, I am a TRUE CANADIAN.
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why is this inappropriate?
Please, let's throw out the Baucus bill and get the Kennedy bill passed.
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why is this inappropriate?
Sorry Nancy V. She has said she would not vote for a bill that had an option. That option is for us, to chose whatever insurance we want. If it does not have an option we might as well just keep going the way it is now. She is no friend of us. And Ann J I sure don't want her as a Dem. With Dems like her who would need enemies.
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why is this inappropriate?
How is this a surprise? Snowe, a Senator OWNED by the insurance lobby, supports the fraudulent bill of Baucus, another Senator owned by them. This bill would force overpriced, inadequate (at best) health insurance down our throats, without the recourse that a public option would provide! The present system clearly doesn't work, and this pathetic excuse for reform would only legitimize and make MANDATORY a corporate cash cow that threatens the very survival of the American public! Snowe has essentially bided her time until the last moment before jumping on board in an attempt to defraud us once again. I sincerely hope that enough of us are paying attention, and preparing to cast our votes appropriately come November. Hope is a wonderful thing, but true reform requires the utmost vigilance. YES WE CAN, and NO YOU DON'T!!!!
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Do you understand what Olympia Snowe just did? She voted for it to be mandatory for you to buy health insurance from these same health insurance companies who are charging an arm and a leg (sometimes literally) and dumping people as soon as they might have to pay something out. We will now be taxed on our insurance premiums where we have not been before. And health care will be no better than it is now...just mandatory. Do you really think she is a hero?
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why is this inappropriate?
The Republicans need to give up on partisanship. Really difficult for them to do so with big pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies hanging off their shoulders.
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why is this inappropriate?
I'm proud of her. As has been stated elsewhere, unlike that winking buffoon from Alaska, Snowe is a real "maverick" within her party. As a fellow New Englander, I am not wholly surprised, because, she comes from a tradition of independent thinkers. I wish more Republicans could put partisanship aside, but heck, with all that backing from insurance companies, I know how hard it must be. Hey, isn't there a term for pleasing strangers for money? "Prostitution," I think it's called. Glad Senator Snowe isn't one of those!
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why is this inappropriate?
I agree that a vote for the best bill is the large issue. I believe though, that if our combined base of Dems & Republicans acted as one governing, considering team, and stopped squabbling like selfish children, we might actually accomplish reform. At present they're just wasting our time and money.
Sen. Snowe is a hero because she thinks with her own mind &
heart. . is well informed, and takes her job as an important opportunity. . and this is unacceptable to many. So many are just worried about their popularity, and re-electability!
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wHO CARES IF IT IS bI-PARTISAN. i WANT A GOOD BILL. wHERE IT COMES FROM wHO CARES. aCTUALLY HOW CAN YOU VOTE FOR SOMETHING yOU DO NOT HAVE. sure. only you !!!!!
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olympia Snowe is a train wreck. I'm an independent, and I can't stand to look at the woman. I wish I were from her state so that I could vote against her. I don't know why she doesn't just give it up and become a Dem.
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