Snowe votes for health care bill

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• Video: Sen. Snowe's speech on the Senate floor

In a surprise move, Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe announced her support Tuesday for Sen. Max Baucus’ Democratic health care bill and voted with Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee to approve the legislation and send it out of committee.

Snowe is a moderate Republican and a member the “Gang of Six,” a bipartisan group of senators working toward a health care reform bill. She has long been seen as one of the few Republican senators willing to vote for a health care reform bill, and has been courted by Democrats, including President Barack Obama, for her support.

The vote was 14 to 9, with Snowe and the 13 Democrats in the committee voting for the bill and the other nine Republicans voting against it.

Snowe made clear her decision would not necessarily translate into a vote in the future.

“My vote today is my vote today. It doesn’t forecast what my vote will be tomorrow,” Snowe said in a speech on the floor.

“There are many, many miles to go in this legislative journey,” Snowe said. “People do have concerns about what we will do with reform. But at the same time they want us to continue working. And that is what my vote to report this bill out of committee here today represents: to continue working the process.”

In a speech in the Rose Garden, Obama thanked Snowe for “both the political courage and the seriousness of purpose that she’s demonstrated throughout this process.”

“This bill is not perfect and we have a lot of difficult work ahead of us,” Obama said. “There are still significant details and disagreements to be worked out over the next several weeks as the five separate bills from the Senate and the House are merged into one proposal. But I do believe the work of the Senate Finance Committee has brought us significantly closer to achieving the core objectives I laid out early in September.”

The bill, as it stands now, would increase Medicaid eligibility and establish an insurance exchange that would function like a co-op for health insurance. When introduced by Baucus, a Montana Democrat, in September it received a lukewarm response from senators on both sides of the aisle. While many Democrats have supported a government-run insurance option, the idea has faced opposition from many moderate Democrats and Republicans, including Snowe. Republicans have expressed concerns that a dramatic reform of health care would give the government too much control of the medical industry.

Maine’s two representatives — Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud, both Democrats — have said they support health care reform. Maine’s other senator, Susan Collins, is a moderate Republican and a member of the Gang of Six like Snowe but has not come out in support of Baucus’ plan.

Collins said she supports Snowe’s actions, but is not ready to support the bill.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009, 5:04 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.