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The lone Republican senator to back any Democratic healthcare proposal says she could support a filibuster When it comes time to pass a final healthcare reform bill, Senate Democrats may need help from Maine's Olympia Snowe, the only Republican senator thus far to vote for a Democratic proposal. And if they do, that could spell doom for the public option. Snowe was asked Thursday whether she'd vote for cloture -- that is, to end a filibuster -- on a bill that includes a provision for a government-run insurer. "I'd say I'm against a public option, so yes," she replied. Pressed...

Rockefeller Says Democrats Can’t Tailor Health Care to Snowe (Bloomberg can only be linked to)

July came too late. In all the euphoria over the news that the Senate Finance Committee has approved its version of health care legislation, some context was missing. With a 60-vote majority in the Senate and a 79-vote advantage in the House of Representatives, it was all but assured that some sort of health care bill would clear the Democrat-dominated committees. It just wasn't supposed to take this long. Back in June, the Washington Post published an internal memo that was written by Senate Democrats plotting out the Finance Committee's timeline for passing health care legislation. Originally, the vote to...

A healthcare reform expert says Democratic leaders in Congress who are seeking to pass healthcare legislation before Thanksgiving are "deceiving themselves into thinking they know what's best for the American people." The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote today on a healthcare reform bill authored by Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) that would create new taxes and regulations to pay for a massive expansion of the Medicaid entitlement program. Although the Baucus proposal has been billed as the most "moderate and reasonable" of five committee healthcare bills, a new study prepared by Price Waterhouse Coopers estimates that by 2019 the...

We're on a mission to defeat every RINO who ever runs in another GOP primary. Our main vehicle is a website, removerinos.com, aimed at compiling an e-mail list of 25,000 potential donors to any candidate who'll oppose Snowe and/or 22 other RINOs. With over 500 citations (2/3 from the ACU), it’s also one of the most informative sites on the subject of RINO voting records. After Snowe’s vote today, THIS truly is the time to start putting together donor lists to try to beat these RINOs. Please go to removerinos.com and see what you can do. We can still change...

It was Edmund Burke who said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” If anyone has taken a look at America lately, they would find a nation of “do nothings”. Today, “Health Care Reform” as some call it, “Socialized Medicine” as others call it, got over its first major legislative hurdle when it was passed by the Senate Finance Committee. The road has been paved for the legislation to go the full Senate as early as the week of October 26.

Olympia Snowe has sold out the country. Having been banished to our world after Asland chased her out of Narnia, Snowe is intent on corrupting this place too. So we should melt her. What melts snow? Rock salt. I’m going to ship this 5 pound bag of rock salt to her office in Maine. It’s only $3.00. You should join me. It is a visible demonstration of our contempt for her. First she votes for the stimulus. Now this. It’s time to melt Snowe. ORDER YOUR BAG HERE. The mailing address is: 3 Canal Plaza Suite 601 Portland, ME 04101...

Here is video of GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe giving her reasoning on why she decided to vote in favor of the "Baucus Health Care Bill" to move it out of the Senate Finance Committee. The bill passed 14-9, with Snowe being the only Republican to support it. Snowe said the bill was not "all she would wish," but she said "when history calls, history calls." The Obama Administration will seize on Snowe's support to claim "bi-partisan" support for their plan going forward. Snowe may indeed go down in history for her support of this bill, but it won't be positive....

Senate Finance Panel Approves Health Bill, 14-9 By GREG HITT and JANET ADAMY [Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe smiles at Democratic Sen. Max Baucus (left) moments before she announced her support for the Finance Committee's health-care bill.] Getty Images Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe smiles at Democratic Sen. Max Baucus (left) moments before she announced her support for the Finance Committee's health-care bill. WASHINGTON – The Senate Finance Committee Tuesday approved its health-overhaul measure, pushing a revamp of the U.S.'s health-care system closer to reality than it has been in decades. The vote was 14-9, with Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine the...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine said Tuesday that she'd support a sweeping Senate Finance Committee bill overhauling the U.S. health-care industry, giving Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., a sought-after Republican vote on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. In highly anticipated comments on the $829 billion, 10-year bill, Snowe said the bill wasn't all she wanted. "Far from it," she told fellow senators during what is likely to be the committee's last work session on Baucus's bill. "But when history calls, history calls, and I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party on President Barack Obama's top legislative priority. The Maine senator kept virtually all of Washington guessing how she would vote until she announced it late in the Senate Finance Committee debate Tuesday. Until then, she told reporters, she had not even let Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in on her secret. She told her colleagues: "When history calls, history calls," even though she had some criticism of the bill.

'... the insurance industry is making huge profits off peoples' need for healthcare... I don't want to say whether I will vote for the Baucus Bill or not but we have to reform healthcare...' Folks, she's gonna vote for the Baucus Bill. She's also a coward.

Quiz time: Which of the following provisions has been tucked into the most closely watched health-care bill on Capitol Hill thanks to Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine? Is it a) an annual checkup for every Medicare beneficiary, b) a special health-insurance marketplace in every state that would cater to the needs of small businesses or c) new tax credits to help modest-size firms buy coverage for their workers? The answer is all of the above. As the only Republican on the Finance Committee still in talks with Democrats on a final bill, Snowe now finds herself with extraordinary leverage as...

Time for September’s Terrible Liberal of the Month: Olympia Snowe! Though, a more appropriate title for this week’s column may be Biggest Liberal of the Month. Despite the “R” that appears next to her name, there is little proof that the Maine senator is actually a Republican. Snowe may as well have admitted she was a Democrat ten years ago when, in 1999, she and her colleague Susan Collins (also “R”-ME) both voted to acquit Bill Clinton, saying that perjury wasn’t a grave enough charge to warrant impeachment. No, breaking the law and lying outright before a grand jury isn’t...

President Obama intends to keep wooing the public to support for his health care goals in a scheduled Monday night appearance on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” Polls suggest he has had mixed results so far. Most critical, however, is his private effort to persuade one person: Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine. And that effort appears to be going very well. Ms. Snowe has not endorsed either Democratic health care bill in the Senate. No Republican has. But in an interview, she offered a surprisingly robust endorsement of Mr. Obama’s skepticism about expanding government too much, his...

Sen. Olympia Snow (R-Maine): "I've always been a Republican for the traditional principles associated with the Republican Party."

Following up on his This Week appearance where he promised to fight on for the public option, Sen. Jay Rockefeller blasted the draft bill produced by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus: “there is no way in its present form that I vote for it unless it changes in the amendment process by vast amounts.” He’s not alone. Fellow Finance Committee member Ron Wyden is livid too. Expect a rocky mark-up next week. As one top Democrat told me, the fundamental problem is that Democrats “are being asked to support a bipartisan bill that doesn’t have bipartisan support.” The compromise without...

Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, one of the few Republicans you can count on to stab her own party in the back more than John McCain, has issued a dire warning to the White House. Snowe insists that there is "no way" a government run healthcare system will ever pass the Senate. Sayeth the thorn, “I’ve urged the president to take the public option off the table,” adding "it is universally opposed by Republicans," leaving many wondering if she was risking her "maverick" status at the New York Times by oddly including herself in the word "Republicans". Remember, this is the...

The president’s health care speech last night consisted of discredited canards bookended by emotional manipulation. Between his distortions, token gestures for opponents, and lengthy bouts of tongue-lashing, Barack Obama signaled he will continue pushing forward toward socialized medicine. However, it seems likely he will move incrementally through a final bill that will nationalize health care a year after the next presidential election. “You Lie!” Let Me Count the Ways The bulk of his speech consisted of recycled falsehoods long since dismissed. To note the highlights, one can begin with the moment that caught everyone’s attention: Obama’s denial that “our reform...

The email dings started around 10:00 pm, and continued throughout the night as folks throughout Maine sent me the latest report on CNN.com that quotes "sources" who claim, "President Obama and top aides have quietly stepped up talks with moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine on a scaled-back health care bill, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations." I know that Washington, D.C. folks spend a great deal of time in an alternative world, but seriously - Senator Snowe engaged in behind the scenes talks with the President?  Forget for a moment that Senator Snowe has been working on...