No Republican Support For Baucus’s ‘Bipartisan’ Bill

Senator Max Baucus just lost his most moderate Republican supporter, Olympia Snowe, so now the only real hope for a bi-partisan bill in the Senate is gone.

From The Hill:

Snowe (Maine), who was one of three Republicans who backed the $787 billion economic stimulus package, was being lobbied heavily by the White House, and some centrists view her refusal to strike a deal with Baucus as troubling. But concerns about how the plan would be paid for prompted her to back away in the hours before its release.

“I do have concerns and I’m not sure they can be addressed before he issues [legislation] tomorrow,” Snowe said.

Faced with the prospect of having to pass legislation without Republican votes, Obama’s chief political adviser David Axelrod met with Senate and House Democrats on Tuesday to stress the importance of party unity on healthcare reform — a message most directly aimed at centrists who now are critical to its passage.

Now, that doesn’t mean she won’t eventually support it if Dems find different mechanisms to fund the legislation, but for right now this is a big blow.

Still, is reconciliation the path to pass this? Could be…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that Democrats are prepared to use budget reconciliation as a last resort.

“We’ve always had a place at the table for Republicans. There’s one there today. We hope it bears fruit,” he said. “If we can’t get the 60 votes we need, then we’ll have no alternative but to use reconciliation.”

Still, I don’t think this is the path they’ll take, but we’ll have to wait and see. Personally I think that would be a really bad political move, but it would mean Dems could pass the bill they want with a robust public option instead of a compromise built on shaky bi-partisan support…and that’s attractive to a lot of Dems. They feel like they won last fall for a reason and if they have to push through health care reform without Republicans, well, that’s how democracy works.

Here’s the question: Will health care reform get even one Republican vote?

(Photo: AP via Daylife)