A month ago, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R., Me.) was the lone Republican to vote in support of the Senate Finance Committee’s health-care bill. At the time, liberals cheered, though Snowe cautioned that her vote then did not “forecast what my vote will be tomorrow.”
Well, tomorrow has come. On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its own version of Obamacare by a 220-215 vote. Now, with that bill punted to the Senate, Snowe is back in the spotlight. Will she vote with the Democrats again?
Just wait a minute, Snowe told NRO on Tuesday outside of the Senate chamber. A decision on whether she’ll be one of the 60 votes the Democrats need to pass their bill is a long way off. Still, she says, she looks forward to playing an important role in shaping health-care legislation.
First, Snowe tells us that she is concerned about the “breadth and scope” of the House’s health-care bill. “I won’t come on board with that bill,” she says. “It goes far beyond the bounds of what I’d think we’d find acceptable in the Senate. There’s no question that the Finance Committee’s bill is the only one that comes close to achieving any cost savings.”
Her chief concerns, she says, are the House bill’s stipulations for employer mandates and its potential to lead to staggering new taxes. She’s also uneasy about how such legislation will affect small businesses, and “business in general, given the state of the economy.” These are “perilous times,” she says. “We cannot be imposing new taxes on American businesses.”
The “trigger option,” she says, is another issue she wants to continue to pursue. That’s a proposal under which states would be allowed to offer a public option if insurance companies failed to offer affordable plans. “I did support the ‘trigger’ as a fallback in the event that the insurance industry didn’t offer up affordable choices,” says Snowe, before cautioning that she “has not supported the public option before” and that she still “does not want the public option at the forefront.” Don’t expect her, however, to budge on the trigger. “I come from a state that has been a victim of the insurance industry,” she says. “We’re well familiar with the egregious approaches that have been to the detriment of the well-being of people in Maine.”
Democrats, says Snowe, should also not try to rush the debate on the Senate floor. Waiting till 2010 for a vote, she says, would be appropriate. “I just don’t think it’s surprising as to how long this takes,” says Snowe. “Just having been part of the Senate Finance Committee process for as long as I have, I know that this is too complex and too interwoven to give a judgment without giving [the bill] the full evaluation it deserves.”
Besides, she says, if the debate is given enough time to flesh out all aspects of the bill, then a bipartisan compromise is still possible. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with Democratic centrists,” says Snowe. “I’ve been working with them on different areas, including the trigger and other alternatives. We’ve all been having conversations because we share many of the same issues and problems with the legislation, especially on the public option and how you proceed in the United States Senate given the fact that it’s going to be in there as an opt-out. We certainly do coalesce around some things and try to find common ground. We’re having constant discussions, virtually every day, on a variety of fronts.” Asked by NRO to name the Democrats on her speed-dial, Snowe smiles, and says, “I’ll let you guess.” (Possibilities: Democratic senators like Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, and Evan Bayh of Indiana.)
“We can’t be handcuffed going to the floor,” says Snowe. “We’re trying to sort this through and make it a better bill. It’s going to be a lengthy debate. There’s not going to be any way of short-circuiting the process when it comes to analyzing all of the amendments that are going to be offered. That’s the nature of this issue, as it should be. It requires a considerable amount of time. We need to give this the time it deserves. That’s what the Founding Fathers wanted, that’s what the Senate’s all about: having a very deliberative process.”
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