Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

September 13, 2009

Snowe, Collins Will Not Back Public Option

More proof that the "public option" is all but dead comes from the two senators Democrats hoped might side with them in supporting the measure in a health care reform bill.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said President Obama "should take it off the table" since it would "give real momentum to building consensus," reports The Hill.

Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she would not even support a "trigger" option in any legislation, meaning a provision to delay a public option and allow health insurance companies to lower costs on their own, according to the Washington Post.

Said Collins: "The problem with the trigger is it just delays the public option."

Without Snowe or Collins on board, Senate Democrats would be forced to pass any bill with a public option using budget reconciliation rules -- a path they've indicated they would prefer not to use.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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