U.S. President Obama's push for healthcare reform has cleared a key Senate hurdle. The support of Republican Senator Olivia Snowe was crucial and may even swing a vote for the bill.
President Barack Obama's push for sweeping healthcare reform cleared a key Senate hurdle on Tuesday (the 13th), as the Senate Finance Committee passed an $829 billion bill—mainly along party lines—that aims to cut healthcare costs, regulate insurers and expand coverage.
[Max Baucus, Senate Finance Committee Chairman]:
"All Americans should have access to affordable, quality healthcare coverage. Our bill would raise the share of Americans with insurance coverage from about 83 percent to 94 percent."
The Baucus bill does not include a government-run "public" insurance option backed by President Obama and opposed by Republicans. Still, many Republicans criticized the legislation arguing it would lead to higher premiums, higher taxes, and more government.
[Jon Kyl, U.S. Senator]:
"The whole point of healthcare reform is to make things better for Americans. The bill fails that test while imposing huge costs and limiting choice. And that's why it should be rejected."
Breaking from her Republican colleagues was Senator Olympia Snowe, a moderate from Maine, who made it clear that her support for healthcare reform depended upon what the final version of the legislation looked like.
[Olympia Snowe, U.S. Senator]:
“Finally I say that my vote today is my vote today. It does not forecast what my vote will be tomorrow."
At the White House, President Obama praised the work of the Senate Finance committee in moving along his top domestic priority.
[Barack Obama, U.S. President]:
"As a result of these efforts, we are now closer than ever before to passing health reform. But we're not there yet. Now's not the time to pat ourselves on the back. Now's not the time to offer ourselves congratulations. Now's the time to dig in and work even harder to get this done."
Snowe's support provides a degree of bipartisanship to the bill and could give Democrats a crucial swing vote as the bill moves forward in the full Senate, where the debate is likely to get even more heated.
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