First Posted: 12-20-09 12:50 PM | Updated: 12-20-09 02:05 PM
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), considered one of very few Republicans who might vote for the Senate health care bill, said Sunday that she would not.
"This process denies us the opportunity to thoroughly and carefully and deliberately evaluate what's at stake," she said on CBS.
Olympia of Troy also told the New York Times it was a rushed vote on a "a take-it-or-leave-it package."
Democrats no longer need Snowe's vote -- but the Washington Monthly's Steve Benen points out that they courted her anyway only to have her object over the debate's speed.
I just can't figure out what on earth Snowe is talking about. She voted with Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee reform plan, but now appears to be looking for an excuse to oppose the effort. But to sound even remotely credible, Snowe will have to do better than this.
Olympia of Troy had been complaining about the speed of the legislative process since July, but therein lies the point: how could it get any slower?
If it lasted until next year, eventually Republicans would demand that the process not be rushed before the midterm elections, and that the fair thing would be to let the people decide in the 2010 elections.
The GOP leadership has every incentive to stretch the process out as long as possible. Rightardia beleives Snowe was functioning as a Republican Trojan horse. She never really planned to support the Affordable Health Care Act of 2009. She was there to delay the legislative process.
If Snowe had run out the clock during the first two years of the Obama presidency, Obama could have been facing an off-year Congress that would have been far less likely -- perhaps totally unwilling -- to cooperate with him.
Since there is no public option and a compromise on abortion has been worked out, you would think Snowe might have crossed party lines. Snowe, however, is simply holding the standard GOP line on health care reform.
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/20/olympia-snowe-will-vote-a_n_398557.html
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