TPMDC

Associated Press Overplays Likelihood Of Collins Support For Health Care Reform


Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

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As the Associated Press has it, "[a]nother Republican senator says she's open to voting for a sweeping health care overhaul this year."

Reflexively, it makes sense to assume that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) might be a gettable vote for health care reform. She's the moderate Republican besides her Maine colleague Olympia Snowe to vote with Democrats on major agenda items. But, as Greg Sargent notes, that's almost certainly not going to be the case on health care reform.

Her official statement in response to the passage of health care legislation on the Senate Finance Committee was to lambaste it in pretty clear terms. AP appears to be basing their headline on her final words:

I share the goal of passing responsible health care reform and, working with members on both sides of the aisle who share these concerns, I am hopeful that many improvements will continue to be made to produce a bill that can achieve bipartisan support. Our goal should be legislation that protects affordable health care choices, safeguards Medicare, and reduces costs to the consumer and the taxpayer especially at a time when we simply cannot afford to pay more

Which could have come from just about any Republican. Back in September, TPMDC caught Collins saying she wasn't supportive of either the public option or Snowe's trigger compromise. Anything can happen, but her statement isn't really a sign that something will.

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October 14, 2009 1:37 PM   

Snowe or Collins in the discourse, is just veil for sidelining the public option.

Truth is there is not enough will among democrats in the Senate for the PO, and Snowe and Collins will be nice cover.

While I don't agree with the position- I admire Snowe and Collins (on the stimulus bill)- coz the two ladies have lot more principles than most other dems in the senate.

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October 14, 2009 1:46 PM   

Snow and Collins are not really in the game except for cover to go w/out the public option coming out of the Senate. Regardless of any statements or positions they take, the true bottom line is that it is Obama's bill from here on out. The reality is that in every from here it gets harder and nextr to impossible to do real reform. Obama will either push for or kill real reform.

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October 14, 2009 2:20 PM   

Just in case, the right wing should immediately start sending Senator Collins' staff some gin, lemon juice, and a lot of maraschino cherries.

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October 14, 2009 3:01 PM   

Sixty votes are needed for cloture to move a bill out of the Senate. The bill that comes back from conference will only need 51 votes. So it doesn't matter what these two Repugs think of public option.

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October 14, 2009 3:20 PM   

My understanding is that if Reid puts the PO into the bill, it would take 60 votes to remove it. Schumer says Reid can put it into the bill.

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October 14, 2009 4:12 PM   

Collins will only support a bill that is meaningless or makes actual health care worse. There is a long record demonstrating that her "moderation" is all a show. If that show is on display again, then we know all we need to know about the bill.

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