It’s officially a bipartisan bill. Olympia Snowe has announced she will vote for the Senate Finance Committee’s health care plan. Unfortunately that is a flawed bill, which should be improved when it goes before the full Senate.
The conventional wisdom, at least according to Politico, was that it would have been seen as a setback for the Democrats if they couldn’t get Snowe’s vote. A lot of Democrats are wondering why they compromised so much on this bill if at best it came down to picking up one Republican vote.
It is surprising that so much effort was made to have the bill seen as bipartisan when there is only one Republican voting for it and her doing so is likely a career limiting move within the Republican party. It is hard for anyone to be convinced of the bill being bipartisan in that light
It is sure questionable whether it was worth compromising so much for only her vote. On the other hand, there are other signs of bipartisanship beyond the current Congress as several Republicans have expressed support for health care reform.
The real value of Olympia Snowe’s vote, to Senate Democrats, is not that it is one Republican vote that makes the bill look ‘bipartisan.’ It’s that it is one Republican vote that gives folks like Ben Nelson and Arlen Specter political cover on the Senate floor. Sure, I imagine Baucus fantasizes that Snowe’s vote will bring in Susan Collins and Dick Lugar too when the time comes. But it also means conservative Democrats can point to Republican support for the bill.
I don’t know if the full Senate will improve the bill or not. Jay Rockefeller is campaigning for the public option to be stuck back on, so they may. What is certain is that unless the Progressive Caucus flip-flops completely, the Finance Committee bill won’t pass the House as written. It will need to be improved to manage that.
The problem is that Snowe’s vote might not provide such coverage once things get to the full Senate. If the plans to insert a public option go through Snowe has indicated she might not vote for the final bill.
There’s also talk that it might be better not to include the public option in the Senate bill, but to get it back in when they reconcile with the House bill. It is hard to keep track of all those Senate rules, but I believe there are ways they can do it by that route which would then only require a simple majority on the final vote.
I believe Snowe’s colleague has just indicated she’s probably going to vote for the bill as well. Anyway, I think the interesting little squirrel to watch squirm is Joe Lieberman. He’s blustering that he can’t support the bill, but he knows that if the votes against it, he’s probably going to lose his chairmanship of whatever nothing committee he was allowed to keep Sorry I can’t provide more specifics, but was fighting Nashville traffic while listening to NPR.
‘The problem is that Snowe’s vote might not provide such coverage once things get to the full Senate. If the plans to insert a public option go through Snowe has indicated she might not vote for the final bill.’
I’m not saying I think the Finance Committee strategy is correct. In fact, I think it’s pretty unrealistic. Leslie notes Susan Collins may come aboard with Snowe when the bill hits the floor, which may or may not provide more political coverage for Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman or may not. So they gutted the bill for two Reoublican votes they probably could have gotten anyway with a good bill with no public option as opposed to a bad bill all around.
I don’t think Snowe will change her vote. I think she is leaving her options open, but I think that in the end she’ll want to do what gets her elected and a Republican doesn’t win a Senate seat in Maine by cutting right. At the same time, I don’t think the political coverage of two moderates from Maine will help Ben Nelson in Nebraska.
But that’s what Max Baucus thinks.
‘I believe Snowe’s colleague has just indicated she’s probably going to vote for the bill as well. Anyway, I think the interesting little squirrel to watch squirm is Joe Lieberman. He’s blustering that he can’t support the bill, but he knows that if the votes against it, he’s probably going to lose his chairmanship of whatever nothing committee he was allowed to keep.’
Lieberman needs to be careful. If he is seen by his constituents as blocking health care reform, Ned Lamont might start to look a whole lot better to people who voted for Joe as an independent because of their personal trust in him to do right by them.