Snowe Job, Part 8

Back to the HCR battle today in the Senate, and the news is looking depressingly like the news from the Senate Finance Committee/Max Baucus shenanigans from 3-4 months ago:  Maine's GOP Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are calling the shots again despite both of them not even voting for  the bill to come to the floor.

Snowe in particular continues to speak of health care reform as a project she's a part of. Yesterday, defying her party's own talking points, she told The Hill that a new CBO report, regarding the impact of the Senate legislation on insurance premiums, is encouraging news for reformers.

The CBO report, she says, indicates that the legislation "makes strides, without question" toward extending affordable coverage. On this score she sees room for improvement: "We have to be sure that we are providing the most affordable plans to Americans, and that's not abundantly clear at this point," she said. "That's what's of concern to me."

But it's not just her. Susan Collins, Snowe's Maine colleague, told reporters yesterday that she's been meeting with Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, and DeParle's deputy Jeanne Lambrew.

Those negotiations are ongoing, and Collins is a tougher sell than Snowe, but for the first time in weeks Collins suggested she may be in play.

"I made very clear that I could not support the bill as it's currently drafted, and that there would have to be substantial changes, but I certainly hope that that will be possible," Collins told reporters. "I think there is unease on both sides of the aisle about specific provisions in this bill, and that it's possible that we can come up with alternatives that will garner bipartisan support."

Collins says she's "not a fan," of the latest public option compromise being discussed. Still, one Democratic aide said Collins' vote might even be more gettable than some of the recalcitrant conservative Democrats.

So the question is, as always, what are the demands that the White House will have to give up in order to get their votes?  At this point there's not much left, the bill is in such bad shape with the provisions not even taking effect for another three years that there's little wiggle room left.  the public option is hanging by a thread and the ConservaDems are busy trying to find the Jenga piece that'll bring the whole thing down.

Everyone wants their cut from the bill.  What are Snowe's and Collins's respective prices?

[UPDATE 5:07 PM] Ezra nails it.

So far, I've not heard anyone discuss a deal along these lines. The horse-trading over the public option is taking place entirely in terms of the public option, and not in terms of the broader health-care bill. That strategy made sense for trying to keep the public option alive, but if the votes aren't there, that may not be the right strategy for letting it die.