Despite White House hopes after last night’s election in Massachusetts, neither Olympia Snowe nor Susan Collins are likely to change their positions on the healthcare legislation pending in Congress, according to our sources.
While some have suggested that the victory of Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate election will send the White House back to Snowe and/or Collins, they are unlikely to change their minds and vote in favor of a package they voted against. Snowe, moreover, was reportedly not pleased with comments made by Harry Reid recently saying it was a waste of time to negotiate with her. It will be hard for the Majority Leader to walk back from those strong words – if it was a “waste of time” last week, why should they be calling her office this week? If they had continued to work with her after the Senate Finance Committee vote, and given her a seat at the negotiations, it might be a different picture – but with Snowe shut out of that room she would be unlikely to return to the table.
Collins, of course, has never shown much interest in the President’s proposal to overhaul health care, despite speculation otherwise. Unlike Snowe, it was not before her committee, so she was never involved in the negotiations. Before and since the floor vote, when she joined with other Republicans in the filibuster, she has put out strong statements against the bill.
While both are likely to put out conciliatory statements soon (statements are below), calling for bipartisanship on the issue, neither will suddenly cut a deal and change their votes. If the White House and Congressional Democrats go back to the drawing board, creating a vastly scaled-down health-care proposal that wins bipartisan support in both chambers, they may be able to convince our senators. That, however, would start the entire process over again in Congress.
UPDATE: Snowe has issued a statement on the Massachusetts results and health care which reiterates her commitment to the overall goal while criticizing the process which led to this bill.
UPDATE 2: Collins has also issued a statement on Brown’s victory, welcoming him to the Senate and criticizing the health care bill process.
