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Democrats woo Snowe, Collins in hope of saving health reform legislation
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| Contributor | particleman |
| Last Edited | particleman Jan 26, 2010 10:28pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Alexander Bolton |
| News Date | Wednesday, January 27, 2010 04:25:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Centrist Democratic senators have circumvented party leadership to approach Maine GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins about reviving healthcare talks. Democrats such as Sens. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Max Baucus (Mont.) have approached Snowe within the past week to discuss her potential support for various healthcare proposals.
“I know there have been efforts to contact her and find out what her concerns are,” said Sen. Mark Begich, a centrist Democrat from Alaska. Snowe said Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance panel, approached her in the past week to get her general thinking on reviving healthcare reform.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, has had several general discussions with Collins, who said she would consider supporting a scaled-down version of healthcare reform.
President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders, however, have made no attempt to reach out to the two centrist Republicans, despite spending months last year heavily courting Snowe. Instead they have focused their attention on persuading the House to pass the Senate bill, along with a secondary measure that would address concerns House Democrats have with the Senate bill.
Under this plan, Senate Democrats would pass the second measure with House changes under special budgetary rules known as reconciliation, which would require only a simple majority. But parliamentary experts say it would take several weeks to put together such a package.
The longer the Senate bill remains unpassed by the House, “the more it begins to stink like a dead fish,” said a strategist familiar with Democratic leadership discussions.
Skepticism over the likelihood of passing a second healthcare bill under reconciliation has prompted Democratic centrists to explore an alternative strategy that would rely on Republican support. |
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