TPMDC
Dem Aide: Snowe Highly Unlikely to Support Finance Bill
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Share
Send to a friend!
After months of bipartisan negotiations, and significant concessions intended to win Republican support, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has unveiled a draft of his health care reform bill, and, for now, no Republicans on the Senate Fiance Committee are endorsing it, even tentatively. Not even Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). And one Senate Democratic aide says it's highly unlikely that she'll support the bill at the finance committee stage.
But that won't deter Democrats from wooing her anyhow.
One of Snowe's main concerns is that the financing scheme Baucus proposed, which involves taxes on high end insurance plans, could disproportionately harm Maine consumers, who pay some of the highest health insurance rates in the country.
Calls to Snowe's office asking if she plans to offer amendments to alleviate that and other concerns--and whether the adoption of such amendments would win her support--have thus far gone unanswered.
Baucus and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say they'll move the bill out of committee with Democrats only in the event that she doesn't play ball at this point, though that doesn't necessarily mean that all the concessions Baucus made will be undone. More likely, Snowe will continue to be the focal point of Democrats' negotiations as they try to scrape together 60 votes to circumvent an expected filibuster.
And they may need her sooner than anticipated. One potential problem is that Democrats expect Republicans to invoke a 60 vote requirement just to bring a bill to the floor. Snowe's vote would be crucial at that point.
Which means it's probably fair to conclude that, when Reid merges the Finance Committee bill with the more liberal HELP committee bill, he'll be giving Snowe a significant say over which provisions she thinks should be adopted in the final package.
In other words, no matter what happens, the Snowestakes continue.
Comments (19) | Join the Conversation!
Leave a comment
Follow us!
Most Popular
TPM Stories Now Surging on Digg.com
TPM Top News
© 2010 TPM Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
FreeRider
September 16, 2009 1:46 PM
Baucus has fucked Democrats in the worst way! The only thing worse than getting fucked is getting fucked by a limp dick!
He is the shittiest senator in the history of the Republic.
The loser gets punked so many times by the Republicans that he takes a year to write a bill, gives away the store to get Republican votes, and ends up with no Republicans and no Democrats willing to support his piece of shitty hackwork.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33420
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
Progressive Party
September 16, 2009 1:58 PM in reply to FreeRider
Total agreement with your thoughts and to think that his bill would mandate people to buy insurance from insurance companies without a strong public option is just fucking insane public policy....what choice...what fairness is that...and on top of that stupidity we could get fined by the gov't...
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
trblmkr
September 16, 2009 4:34 PM in reply to FreeRider
Would the raucous Baucus Caucus mock us, shock us or talk us to death?
Would Snowe know "no" is no go fo' sho'?
Would Reid indeed cede the deed we need to succeed?
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
Walter Mitty
September 16, 2009 2:05 PM
And her constituents favor a public option by over 60% and she still is adamantly against a public option. Me thinks Sen. Snowe is bought and paid for by the insurance racket.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
shooter242
September 16, 2009 2:06 PM
What? You people thought you were getting free healthcare? Welcome to the real world.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
CT Voter
September 16, 2009 2:11 PM
Should read: One of Snow's main concerns is_________________________
'Cause no matter what the concession, the "moderate" Republicans will always and forever have "concerns", so why waste space specifying what the "concern" is?
As things stand now, Democrats got played, continued to get played, and will get played in the future.
Or, for those who are offended by such scorn heaped on the Democrats, a more appropriate description probably is: As things stand now, the insurance flunkies have triumphed, and Democrats let them.
But feel the bipartisanship!!!
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
mcc
September 16, 2009 2:19 PM
I have heard it claimed several times that something about the structure of the Finance committee means it can't pass a bill unless at least one Republican votes for it. Is that true?
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
Jim H
September 16, 2009 2:22 PM in reply to mcc
I thought I heard something like that about the Judiciary Committee (maybe just in reference to moving nominations forward). Never heard that about Finance - not that that means much...
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
CT Voter
September 16, 2009 2:24 PM in reply to mcc
I don't think that it's true. But if all Republicans are opposed, all Democrats have to support it for passage. And that appears to be dicey right now.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
CT Voter
September 16, 2009 2:36 PM in reply to mcc
Here's what I found:
Rule 5. Reporting of Measures or Recommendations.—
No measure or recommendation
shall be reported from the committee unless
a majority of the committee is actually
present and a majority of those present concur.
You've got to have at least one Republican for a quorum.
But see for yourself: RULES OF SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
mcc
September 16, 2009 4:37 PM in reply to CT Voter
Awesome, thanks.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
Jim H
September 16, 2009 2:20 PM
So I just had a brainstorm that is probably stupid, but thought I'd throw it out there for people smarter than me.
The problem I see with a public option is that it can be dicked around with by politicians that don't believe in it (GOP, Blue Dogs, etc) - see the uproar over abortion funding, etc.
Now, what's to stop a progressive organization from forming a nation-wide non-profit health insurance plan? Is it just start-up cost? Why does it have to be set up by the government? As long as it has enough members it should have adequate purchasing/bargaining power. And again - it can't be fucked up by Republicans.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
El Puerco
September 16, 2009 3:05 PM
What's the matter with Maine, anyway! How can a state that went for Obama by 18% and just passed gay marriage end up electing these 2 moronic Rethuglian SEnators Snowe and Collins???? Why are these people in office? Rhode Island had the good sense to get rid of Lincoln Chaffee (who was actually not that bad - hell, he voted against the Iraq war); New Hampshire got rid of Sununu and might get a second DEmocratic Senator; and PA forced Specter to become a Dem and might toss him out anyway for a real Dem, Sestak. Why the hell is a dark Blue state like Maine electing Republican senators.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
Mimi katz
September 16, 2009 5:29 PM in reply to El Puerco
Doctors might not sign up if there were some sort of retaliation by the rest of the health-insurance complex.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
midnight rambler
September 17, 2009 12:32 AM in reply to El Puerco
Maine only really became solidly blue towards the end of the Clinton years; before that it was pretty purple. Collins and Snowe were both elected when Republicans were a lot stronger in the state. Unfortunately, people there tend to keep voting for incumbents who are "nice people" without paying attention to their policy positions. Tom Allen lost because he's a dork who couldn't mount a serious campaign. Tom Andrews, who previously held Allen's seat and is more progressive, is a much better campaigner and might have won that race, but unfortunately he seems to have dropped out of politics.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
twirling fartknocker
September 16, 2009 3:49 PM
start from a weakened position: no single payer proposal
make concessions downward for those whose vote you will never get
when you wake the F up and realize you're not getting these dithering asses' votes, keep the plan that started weak and got watered down from there
yay!
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
richard_dc
September 16, 2009 4:17 PM
Forget the Republicans, get a solid Democratic bill from the House and Senate HELP versions: should pass in the House and should get 50 votes + Biden in the Senate. Then let the Senate Republicans filibuster the bill. Let the filibuster drag on while we and the President really turn up the heat on what is at stake. Baucus and Conrad will vote for cloyure in the end; so might Collins and Voinovich (and Lugar?).
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
Riggsveda
September 16, 2009 6:56 PM
May I be so coarse as to say, "Screw her"? And while I'm down in the gutter with the teabag contingent, screw Max Baucus as well.
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?
DuaneW
September 17, 2009 12:38 AM
Thanks Olympia! You have rescued the public option! If Baucus's bill had just one Republican vote (yours!), it would have been considered a "legitimate" "bipartisan" bill by many in the Center. That would have forced a leverage into some compromise with the four more progressive competing bills and would have killed the public option. Now that you decided that your future still remains with the dysfunctional Republican party, your copycat obstinancy kills the Baucus bill instead and leaves all the compromising within the framework of the Democrats-only Bills. All of which include the P.O.!
Reply | Flag Abuse
Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?