Sen. Olympia Snowe just ended months of speculation and agreed to
vote the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill out of
committee, allowing Demorcats to claim the support of at least
one Republican -- for now.
In her statement, Snowe emphasized that this was merely one step
in a long process, and that her vote today should not be used to
forecast her final vote.
Now that passage out of the Finance Committee is all but
official, the bill will have to be merged with the more liberal
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill.
Snowe said that she'll want to see a CBO estimate of the final
merged bill -- written in legislative language -- before
determing whether or not to vote for it.
While expressing several reservations about the bill, she said,
"When history calls, history calls."
This is a good headline for Democrats today, but it doesn't solve
the underlying friction between moderate and liberal members of
Congress. The ability to attract one Republican may stregthen
Baucus's hand during negotiations with Majority Leader Harry Reid
and Sen. Chris Dodd (representing the HELP Committee) and
embolden Blue Dogs to oppose the inclusion of a government-run
plan in the House. Everything will hinge on whether House
liberals cave in on their demand for a government plan, or dig
in.
