The past week has been frustrating. The bill has been watered down, and many of us are extremely unhappy about it. There's been lots of anger around here, even despondency. The latter doesn't mix well with activism.
I was thinking it would be great if we could channel our energies toward taking immediate action, trying to make improvements to the bill that will still keep the process on track. Or even just steps that will keep it from getting weaker.
One thing we could do? Contact Olympia Snowe. Now.
Contrary to the tentativeness she presents in interviews, I believe she's very much in play. So too, apparently, does the president.
According to this NYT piece, President Obama met with Olympia Snowe in two separate meetings just yesterday--one in person, the other by phone. He spent up to two hours in consultation with her. He wouldn't be doing that if he thought she was out of reach.
If there were any doubts that Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine has earned a special place in the hearts of Democrats by being the only Senate Republican to vote for any form of the major health legislation, just consider how she spent her Thursday: First she attended a meeting at the White House for roughly 80 to 90 minutes, a good portion of it one-on-one with President Obama. Later, she and Mr. Obama had a half-hour follow-up call.
Olympia Snowe could very well be the key to making sure that the language on reproductive health in the bill stays neutral. She's pro-choice, and voted against the restrictive abortion amendments offered by Orrin Hatch in the Senate Finance committee markup.
Without her, we need Ben Nelson to get to 60 votes, and he seems as unwavering in his anti-choice stance as Stupak on the House side. I am not sure what will satisfy him, short of removing abortion coverage from any default plan on the exchanges, whether you're paying for coverage with subsidies or with your own money.
She's also been fairly constructive in the process all along, and famously defied her party leadership and voted for the reform package coming out of the Finance committee.
Another thing to keep in mind is that, if the Senate also adopts restrictive language on abortion, I don't believe there will be any hope of changing it via conference with the House. I believe the conference report must at least reflect the spirit of the bills from both chambers--and both could end up being anti-choice.
LET'S LET SNOWE KNOW WE NEED HER.
Urge her to vote for all cloture motions on the manager's amendment and the bill.
Here's her contact info:
In DC: (202) 224-5344
In Maine: (800) 432-1599
By email
NARAL is also sponsoring a petition to urge her to sign on to the legislation. They need signatures by tomorrow (Saturday) at noon ET.