Snowe Chilled by Reid’s Slight - Roll Call

Snowe Chilled by Reid’s Slight - Roll Call: "Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) has been bitten once by Democrats, but the question that remains is whether she will be twice as shy when the Senate passes judgment on a health care reform bill later this month.

Snowe remains one of the most coveted votes by the White House and Senate Democratic leaders because she would represent the scent of bipartisanship in the face of a nearly united GOP opposition. But her role in the process became less prominent after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decided to pursue a Democrat-only strategy in bringing the measure to the floor.

In an interview Thursday, Snowe said she has been repeatedly disappointed, and even angered, at times by the decisions Reid and the White House have made in pursuing passage of the complex and far-reaching bill. Snowe was the lone Senate Republican to support a health care reform plan this year. She sought a delicate compromise with Democrats on the Finance Committee in supporting that package, but when Reid melded that bill with a competing measure, he brushed aside her one demand and put forth a plan that contained a public insurance option.

Asked whether her relationship with Reid has suffered because of his tactical decisions, Snowe said, “I put everything in perspective. And I understand that everybody has a role to play and has their obligations. At the end of the day, you have to do what you think is right and follow your own radar, and you can’t depend on anybody, frankly.”

Snowe had hoped Reid would decide to include her proposal to establish a “trigger” for the public insurance option when he merged the Finance package with a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions measure. Instead, he chose a public option from which states could opt out, rather than first giving private companies the chance to reduce health care costs on their own, as her plan would do.

Not only did Reid choose a public option, he also described Snowe as “frightened” of the public option during the Oct. 27 press conference in which he announced his decision."