Add Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to the list of Republicans who plan to vote against the Paul Ryan budget when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week.
“I am going to vote no on the budget because I have deep and abiding concerns about the approach on Medicare, which is essentially to privatize it,” Snowe told The Portland Press Herald on Tuesday.
She added that the House GOP budget’s proposal to block grant Medicaid and let states decide how to distribute the funds was also troubling.
“The states are the great laboratories,” Snowe said. “But we also have an overall obligation to serve specific populations under Medicaid. We don’t want to encourage a race to the bottom.”
The Maine lawmakers joins Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Scott Brown (R-MA), and Rand Paul (R-KY) who have all declared their “no” vote early. Snowe, Collins, and Brown have cited its impact on seniors’ Medicare benefits as their chief disagreement while Paul wants its overall cuts to go even further. Collins and Paul have made their position known for some time. Brown announced his position on Monday with an op-ed in Politico.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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