What Olympia Snowe's Support Could Mean

The decision by Senator Olympia Snowe to support the health care bill in the senate finance committee on which Senator Snowe sits is good news, but it may not turn out to be a turning point towards getting meaningful health care reform. Snowe's vote gave the bill a solid 14-9 majority in committee. Snowe's vote helped the bill out of committee and gave a bipartisan facade to what was otherwise a party line vote. There is still a long way to go, however, between this vote and real health care reform.

The real work of turning this Senate Finance bill into a piece of progressive health care legislation, of course, remains to be done. The senate bill does not include a public option which for many progressives remains the litmus test of whether the health care bill that finally gets passed is sufficient. As the differences between the finance committee's bill and the health committee's bill are meted out, the fate of the public option will become more clear.

Snowe's vote, therefore, does not guarantee anything, but it keeps the hope of bipartisanship alive and more significantly it gives Senator Snowe a fair amount of leverage over what the final bill will be. Snowe has now positioned herself as something of a canary in the moderate coalmine. If at any time she decides the bill is too progressive and expresses discomfort about supporting it, she will now have greater influence should she not support it. Conservatives will be able to point to any change of position by Snowe as evidence that the bill is too far left and that the Democrats are once again taking us down the road to socialism. After all, they will argue, she supported the bill in committee, conveniently ignoring that she supported a different bill.

Congressional supporters of true health care reform must be careful not to let Snowe's support drive the debate and to get too tempted by the still unlikely prospect of a bipartisan bill. The Democratic Party, and in fact our entire country, is far better served by a strong Democratic health care reform than by a weaker bipartisan one. In fairness to Snowe, it may be that she now understands the import of health care reform and will support progressive legislation in that area. That, of course, would be a very positive and welcome development, but Democratic leadership would be foolish to make that assumption based on one vote on a moderate bill in committee. The Democratic leadership should welcome Snowe's support at this moment, but remain prepared to tell her in the future that the bill is going forward with or without her support.

Through her support of a moderate bill in committee, Snowe has made the Republican Party, or at least part of it, relevant again, succeeding where Michael Steele, John Boehner, Joe Wilson, Rush Limbaugh and others have failed. The Republican Party has responded not by recognizing that Snowe has actually strengthened their party's position, but by threatening to punish Snowe by not supporting her for the position of ranking minority member on the senate commerce, science and transportation committee when that position, for which Snowe would be a clear choice, becomes open. By taking this approach, the Republican Party has sent a message to Snowe, and to all other potential moderates, is that divergence from the angry right wing extreme of the party will be punished. This is a foolish, but predictable position for the party of Limbaugh and Palin to take.

The position of the Republican Party towards the renegade moderate senator gives back to the Democrats a great deal of the leverage Snowe gained by her decision to support the bill in committee. If the Republican Party is genuinely angry at Snowe about this and unwilling to support her in the future, the Democrats can take a different approach with Snowe. Instead of crafting a bill that will ensure her continued support, which would be a foolish, but tempting path to follow, the Democratic leadership can offer Snowe further incentives to support the bill, but only if she supports it in its stronger forms.

Ultimately, the Obama administration and the Democratic leadership in congress must understand that the goal regarding health care is not simply getting a bill passed. This is too good of an opportunity on to important of an issue to settle for something less than what is needed and call it victory. While this approach may work with moderates on both sides of the aisle, it would be a major blow to Obama's extraordinarily, but not infinitely, patient base, and more importantly be a lost opportunity of historic proportions. Settling for any bill because a victory of some kind is needed will make modest improvements but also very likely push back real health care reform for another generation or two, because history has shown these opportunities don't come around too often.

 

Comments

[Humanistic]

"Bipartisan facade", exactly. Sen. Snowe is playing the game to show her constituents she "cares". But when the final bill comes up for a vote, I bet she will vote NO because her continued GOP support depends on it. That way, she can claim she "tried to get balanced reform", but the final bill didn't turn out the way she wanted it to.

The bipartisanship ship sailed some time ago, when Republicans adopted the policy of unanimously rejecting health care reform to cause Pres. Obama to fail in his most important effort at change. But the Blue Dog Democrats are still harping on this nonsense and bending over backwards (or forwards) to accommodate the party of no (and the pocket-lining lobbyists).

[roudy]

Snowe's support has the same value has a warm bucket of spit. If the Democrats with their majority cannot get the job done, then it is time for them to leave, and they surely will in 2010 if they fail with health care reform has they have failed at everything else so far

[tweedledeedumb]

This bill is going to turn out to be just another industry rip off. All of the uninsured will be required to have expensive health insurance, subsidized by the gov. All of the not sick people giving billions of $$$ with no increased costs for the Health care industry. They will make billions on this bill and we all will pay from now until we get real reform.

[DuncanONeil]

But the Dems are admitting that even there ambitious plan will not cover everyone! If they admit that now, with these huge costs, what will it take to get what they really want (Classic USSR or perhaps Cuba?).

[TEPK]

On the contrary, the GOP should clean its own house - - and rid itself of the minority of rightwingnuts currently in control of the party! Republicans like Snowe and Collins and other thinking, open-minded, responsible and reasonable GOPs should minimize and then ostracize the no-mongers and knuckle-draggers. What do you think Dewey, Eisenhower and Rockefeller - and even Goldwater - would have to say about somebody like Palin and Limbaugh as "leaders" of their party?

[judyinAK]

Hear Hear!!

[tweedledeedumb]

There would be no one left.

[DuncanONeil]

"GOP should clean its own house - - and rid itself of the minority of rightwingnuts currently in control of the party!"

And the left need not get rid of its "leftwingnuts" in control of their party? Again this is an issue of people attacking the person that disagrees with them rather than dealing with the issue. That and the fact that when someone agrees with you they are "thinking, open-minded, responsible and reasonable" actually presents you as a person who is none of those things.

Just so you know Palin and Limbaugh are not leaders of the GOP anymore than Michael Moore is a leader of the Democrat party.

[Humanistic]

Not making sense.

[UKOH]

I am British and have experienced health care first hand in a number of countries around the world. While none is perfect every single other country where I have lived does a far better job of health care than does the USA.

If you just take off your "It's American, therefore it MUST be the best in the world" blinkers for a moment all the statistics and evidence are a damning endictment of the USA health care system as the absolute worst amongst 1st world countries.

The problem is that the system is so broken that mere tinkering with it, as the current "reform" is doing, will just not cut it. A radical approach is needed. How about?

(1) Make Medicare available to all
(2) Reform Medicare so that it is lean, mean, effecient and provides a base line of essential health care and preventative care that people need.
(3) Refocus the health insurance industry to offer exclusively Medicare add on products where people want - and can afford - something above and beyond basic care. (e.g. Private rooms in hospitals etc.)

I just wish the Democrat Party would have the political guts to do this. It would be widely unpopular while being put in place but later everyone would see the wisdom of that approach.

However it would cause short term electoral suicide and therein lies the problem!

[DuncanONeil]

"If you just take off your "It's American, therefore it MUST be the best in the world" blinkers for a moment all the statistics and evidence are a damning endictment of the USA health care system as the absolute worst amongst 1st world countries."

The problem with this claim here is that the data is single source and not capable of independent verification. Also the data set is actually undefined.

If the data set is good than how do you reconcile that for colon cancer the survival rate in the US 28% higher than in Canada? A proximate cause of this is that the efficient drug supporting that success in banned in Canada. DUE TO ITS COST!!! This drug is also banned in the UK for the same reason.

[BarryS]

what nonsense. Snowe was bought off and she has caused the bill to be so watered down, that it is almost useless. She will never vote for the final bill which need to have most of the important stuff put back in. Snowe wouldn't be so "cleaver" if she had to have the coverage the hoi polloi get. Let her and her family get my coverage at 15000 per year per person. No perks like the special hospitals, clinics and actual cost reimbursements. make her family suffer like the rest of us. Have her give up lifetime COBRA so if Mainers get smart and throw her out she cannot continue to feed from the trough. She is protected for life. and so are the members of her family. She has been bribed and she knows it. This is what we have to put up with. They got theirs and they could care less about the rest of us.

[JusticiaParaTodos]

Snowe's support means nothing. The bill that was voted on is useless. The HMOs and other healthcare corporations stand to make a lot of money while the quality of our care continues to decline. I heard that about 26 million will still be uninsured and now the idiots want to tax us?

With or without any GOP support the dems have managed to sell us to the healthcare insurance corporatists! It's a lose, lose situation for the common people!

[DuncanONeil]

If the quality of US health care is so low why do so many people come for that express purpose????

[ParallaxView]

Paul Krugman from the NYT wrote Obama's health care plan is just like a Swiss plan or a Massachusetts (Mitt Romney) plan with a public option. Krugman thought that's a good thing, and the best we can do since we didn't start out with a public to begin with http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/opinion/17krugman.html

This means everyone will be required to buy a corporate plan. Wendel Potter, former head of PR for Cigna, said that's what the insurance companies have been after all along. They offer to give up pre-existing condition denial, and enrollment denial in exchange for everyone being required to buy a health insurance policy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QwX_soZ1GI

The Republicans have created a diversion for what's really going on by saying all this stupid BS about death panels and what ever other stupid crap they could come up with: "Socialist takeover of our health care system." I think we'd be better off if it was "Socialized," but what we're getting is a corporatized health care system. That $5,000,000.00 per week that OpenSecrets.org has reported is not in vein.

I recommend seeing what Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich have to say, in order to see where the health care bill is really going.

[CarmanK]

Yes, I believe that Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich are very reliable champions of the people and we can believe what they say and how they say it. I also, .believe Chuck Schumer and Jay Rockefeller are in there fighting for the public option. I am following this very closely. I have Medicare and a private plan supplemental, so we are covered, but I have three adult children laid off work and they are really having difficulty with health care insurance. My oldest son was hit with $1400 a month COBRA for himself and his two girls. So, unemployment won't pay the rent and his 401K was desimated in the spring. Our nation is in trouble and the republicans are fiddlingIt is time for the dems to break the recording of NO, NO, NO by the republicans and get on with "Yes we can".

[tweedledeedumb]

They are all fiddling...The dems are just kicking the vball enough that when it dies they get what they want but can blame it on Repubs.

[Greyghost1]

Republicans seem determined to stop health care reform, looking at www.opesecrets.org explains why.

www.nextrevolution.net

The Idaho Statesman ran an article 10-14-09 Crapo in spotlight on health care.

Claiming to be well informed on health care, Crapo will be seeking a 3rd six year term in 2010, hasn't accompolished anything on health care reform, except stop it, & collect millions campaign finance from insurance as well as Citigroup, J P Morgan Chase, Goldman Sacs, Credit Suisse, Comercial Banks, Securities & investments, to name a few.

All on the list have obviously invested well but what do we get as taxpayers? If so well informed on health care, why hasn't Crapo accomplished anything during the past ten years when health care costs have risen so much, banks, AIG, & others receivede billions in bailout, not just during the Obama administration but Bush as well?

Claiming this health care reform bill is wrong, will cost taxpayers millions, how much has NO health care reform cost US?

Look at your representatives on www.opensecrets.org & which corporate farmers receive millions on www.ewg.org {$300 billion farm bill} so you can better understand the reason family farms are going out of business like all small businesses that can't afford to contribute to these corrupt DC dead beats.

Realize democrats get $ too, contributors can't lose, making billions for millions, pennies on the dollar, & we the people lose all the time.

[Liberal Angel]

She is a Trojan Horse. Get this woman out of the negociations! Beware! Beware, of sens. from Maine bearing strings attatched support to half-assed bills!

[howdyfromtexas]

Who cares if some rino votes for a crappy health care bill. Mandates are unconstitutional. I

[Liberal Angel]

I don't care if she's not seen as a real Republican. I care about the Democrats getting real healthcare reform done, and she (like all the Republicans, and appearantly Conservadems) doesn't care. Republicans don't even matter in the healthcare debate, but weak Democrats have allowed this one woman to have so much power. I don't understand why Democrats aren't enacting a democratic agenda.

[LCLA]

"Settling for any bill because a victory of some kind is needed will make modest improvements but also very likely push back real health care reform for another generation or two, because history has shown these opportunities don't come around too often."

I kind of agree with this, but I am not so convinced that historical patterns apply here as suggested. This is a pretty big issue which has a lot of people ready for constructive change. I believe that there will be a tsunami of pressure from many directions to "improve" the legislation. I hope that most of the improvements will advance true universal coverage and efficient administration of healthcare and its financing.

[ChelseaC]

Snowe's vote for a crappy bill--this is not a win, sorry.

[Greyghost1]

How many of US know the truth about who contributes to our representation & how our representative vote in return?

www.nextrevolution.net

If you look at the post I put up about idaho's crapo, a republican who will be running for a third term in 2010, has accomplished abosultely nothing about health care reform suggest this bill will cost whatever yet how much has health care costs gone up in the last ten years fo doing nothing while accpeting millions from health care, insurance?

Anybody who thinks that doing nothing is better than actually trying, while the opposition fights any reform, is either a fool or making $ in health care, more $ by not reforming this joke. We have had the shouting at town hall meetings, two parties manipulateint the people to fight back & forth, United states divided, 7 we're safer now from terrorist?

We the people are being taken in the greatest scam the world has ever seen by our mis-representatives taking money from the crooks they're in the pocket & bed with. Anybody who doesn't see this is part of the problem, two parties dividing US, & making $ destroying US.

When the people get rid of both parties & take campaign finance, we'll have bbanking regulation, affordable health insurance, no war due tp representatives handing out billions in return for millions we pay for, investing in defense, than promoting war for years.

[trubeliever52]

greyghosti1, you are absolutely right. Until we get rid of the lobbyists and reform campaign financing, our representatives - will not represent us but will be representing the corporations instead.

[DuncanONeil]

Whining about how health care costs have gone up without context is meaningless. Virtually everything has gone up a lot over the past ten years. What does that prove? It costs more to do stuff.

[zkmoore80]

Thanks for loving our prez, I like him too. It's a shame that he gets world-wide respect and admiration, but no respect at home. Most Americans don't know a good thing when it lands in their lap....unless of course, it's a bucket of fried chicken.

[joewalters]

Touche!

[tweedledeedumb]

I'll respect him when he earns my respect.

[squirrelhunter41]

"Through her support of a moderate bill in committee, Snowe has made the Republican Party, or at least part of it, relevant again, succeeding where Michael Steele, John Boehner, Joe Wilson, Rush Limbaugh and others have failed. "

So, Senator Snowe makes the Republican Party relevant by siding with the Democrats. Had a Democrat sided with the Republicans on the committee, would that have made the Democrat Party irrelevant?

[tweedledeedumb]

Yeah...when Leiberman voted with the Reps., did that make the Democrats relevant..­.RIDICULOU­S!!!

[DuncanONeil]

You think the Finance Committee offer is moderate???????

[madusc]

LOL Folks, Dont worry, the final bill will be passed with public option intact. Destiny AND History have both called and no one can stop it, not even FOX news republican Rascals.

[DuncanONeil]

That would be the death nell you hear tolling, not the liberty bell!

[DenisElliott]

Spare me! Sen. Snowe knows very well that opposing health care reform will cost her her seat.

What's galling though is that the administration gave up a huge amount before the debate ever started. Not that we should be surprised, because while the GOP didn't believe it, candidate Obama was quite clear that single payer wouldn't be on the table for discussion. The GOP must have thought it had died and gone to heaven when President Obama kept that particular campaign pledge! They didn't have to lift a finger, and yet the idea they most hate was eliminated from consideration.

Since then, concession after concession has been made in the attempt to garner at least a handful of GOP votes. To recap, we started the process by giving away half the loaf to the GOP, and since then the White House and Congressional Democrats (at least the ones who seem to count) have made concession after concession to conservatives and in the end, what kind of bi-partisan support has resulted?

Out of the entire House and Senate GOP representation on Capitol Hill, exactly ONE vote - and only in committee!

I feel like puking!

[DuncanONeil]

Democrats do not make concessions!!!