Snowe Warns Reid On Public Option

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the most likely Republican vote for the Democratic health care bill, told reporters Thursday that she would not vote to break a GOP filibuster if the bill put forth by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) contains a public option.

"Would [inclusion of a public option] be enough for you to vote against the cloture motion?" a reporter asked Snowe on her way off the Senate floor Thursday afternoon.

"On the public option? I'd say I'm against a public option, so yes," Snowe said.

"But would it be enough for you to say, 'I'm not going to proceed to this bill?'" the reporter pressed. Snowe nodded on her way into the elevator.

Snowe said she also opposes the opt-out version of the public plan, which would allow individual states to remove their residents from the federal exchange. "I don't support that," she said.

Reid is still working with Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and health committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), along with representatives from the White House, to meld the finance and health bills into one.

Snowe's was the lone Republican vote for the bill in the Finance Committee, where it contained no public option. On the Senate floor, Snowe's vote alone might not make the difference. But besides the bipartisan veneer that her "aye" could offer a unified Senate bill, Snowe confirmed that she is in talks with conservative Senate Democrats like Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Should they present a united front, the public option would have a weaker chance of passage in the Senate.

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[johnnycee]

F Olympia Snow and F Lieberman! Why the F can't we just ram it through on reconciliation?

[John Horner]

Who cares what Snowe thinks? Obama made a tactical error in putting so much stock in her vote. He never mentions the progressive Representatives and Senators who have been working hard for real change, but he singled out Snowe for her wishy washy showboat vote on the Finance Committee. He made a rookie mistake in seeming to care so much what she says. There is not going to be any bipartisanship on health care reform. The G-No-P hopes for political salvation out of obstructionism and they are not going to budge.

Sometimes the best thing to do with a screaming bully is to simply ignore 'em.

[Leigh49]

Why does Olympia Snowe hate the uninsured?

[nancytheragingliberal]

L49, I agree and her girlfriend, Susan Collins, is no better. I saw her on TV saying that she is against the Public Option. Snowe and Collins need to go and I hope people in their states give them the boot.

[Lionmccoy]

HERE OR THE KEY PEOPLE THAT I THINK WE NEED TO CONTACT
FOR A STRONG PUBLIC OPTION (YES WE CAN) LET THE SLOGAN MEAN
SOMETHING---"YES WE CAN" MAKE OUR VOICE BE HERD!!!
CONTACT ALL THESE INDIVIDUALS BELOW!

Barack Obama
www.whitehouse.gov
call 877-336-7200
Comments: 202-456-11­11(sometim­e busy)
Switchboard: 202-456-1414 (it work)

E-mail/contact Senator Harry Reid
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Las Vegas, NV
Phone: [phone]
Washington, DC
Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone]
Toll Free for Nevadans: 1-866-SEN-REID (736-7343)

BEN Nelson
Omaha, NE
Tel: [phone]
Lincoln, NE
Tel: [phone]
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: [phone]

MAX BAUCUS
511 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
[phone] (Office)
Missoula, MT
[phone]

Senator Joe Lieberman (be care full this guy is a turncoat)
Washington, DC
[phone] Voice
Hartford, CT 06103
[phone]

U.S. Senator Chris Dodd
448 Russell Building | Washington D.C., 20510
Tel: [phone]
30 Lewis St Suite 101 | Hartford, CT
Tel: [phone]

NANCY PELOSI ( I CALL & THANK THIS LADY FOR
FOR HAVING REAL COURAGE & to keep pushing the fight)
Washington, DC 20515
[phone]

[TruEngineHearing]

Wonder how much she'll love being the front-cover face of healthcare reform failure. The fallacy that she is somehoow "protecting" Americans and their healthcare is as shameful as anything ever foisted on the public.

How's that death toll looking for 'ya Snowe lady? Explain how you sleep at night? Explain how YOU pay your doctor's bill? Explain to the widows and the widowers how they should have bought better healthcare.

Explain why there will be people who will cry out in pain because of you.

[SeriousBlack]

Forget Snowe.

Submit your comments to Harry Reid here:

http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

We all know you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar... Yes, we're all passionate about this, but take advantage of having a direct route to the Senate majority leader like this, by being courteous and state your arguments and feelings clearly and effectively. Most pertinently - make your comments in FAVOR of the public option (or at a MINIMUM the state opt-out) stand out compared to the ridiculous, non-sensical, offensive wingnut comments that he will get from conservatives.

I like to use the technique that the person I am making the comments to is standing right in front of me. Use logic and convince him of the moral and economic RIGHTness of the public option!

[ImissBush]

snowe wait &
the 60 dwarves

[AlexHammer]

Healthcare, The Gang of Six, Maine Citizens and the Public Option
http://www.maineville.com/detail/122975.html

[CydMiller]

Forget Snowe. She is owned by the Health Insurance industry. It is Maine's biggest job creator and her biggest contributor. She is not a moderate republican. Make her vote against the public option so her chance of getting re-elected is in danger.

[ajax2]

This is what the Right Wing Nuts are trying to protect.

The USA has the highest health costs of everyone, right here and now, with or without the uninsured. Every major country and some minor ones that have universal coverage have lower their costs, every single one.

The United States spent 16 percent of its GDP in 2007 on health care, higher than any other developed nation. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that number will rise to 25 percent by 2025

[ICU1225]

Snowe's title is NOT Madam President.

[hernan1333]

no one person is greater than the cause...snowe need to melt away and let dems do what they were voted in for....

[ajax2]

Fire your warnings now Snowe, Dorothy has clicked her heels and soon you'll be a puddle.

[itys]

The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 - you have had 234 years to get it right; it is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935 - you have had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - you have had 71 years to get it right; it is broke.

The "War on Poverty" started in 1964 - you have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked and our entire country is broke.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - you've had 44 years to get it right; they are broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - you have had 39 years to get it right; it is broke.

Trillions of dollars were spent in the massive political payoffs called TARP, the "Stimulus", the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009... none show any signs of working, although ACORN appears to have found a new b***h: the American taxpayer.

And finally, to set a new record:

"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009!

So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that "services" you shove down our throats are failing faster and faster, you want Americans to believe you can be trusted with a government-run health care system?

20% of our entire economy?

I DON'T THINK SO.

DUMP THE BAUCUS BILL. SAVE AMERICA.

[ajax2]

The highest medical costs in civilized society, must be maintained and preserved. Dump medical reform, Save Big Pharma and the Insurers.

[jane8877]

Republicans 20 years to get it right instead of flushing America down the toilet the way they did.

29 years if you count Clinton, more a Republican than a Democrat.

[knowhelpnow]

I've seen the e-mail, not an independent thought in that itys brain of yours.

You might want to check with Snops on that one, the whole e-mail is BS

[Leigh49]

If we didn't have to fight republican-started wars we would be solvent in everything. Absolutely EVERYTHING.

[John Horner]

In 1981 a paltry 8% of personal bankruptcies were related to medical costs.

By 2007 a full 67% of all personal bankruptcies were triggered by medical costs, and the majority of those people had health insurance when their health problems began!

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db2009064_666715.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_policy+%2Bamp%3B+government

This is from Business Week, hardly a hot bed of left wing ideology!

[dwillisno1]

Olympia Snowe, we are starting to get your drift. You are more flake than substance. You look good, but when the heat is on, you melt, and all thats left is runoff.