As I noted earlier, the Democrats’ self-imposed Christmas deadline to pass health care reform is very much in doubt. But if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid does push the issue, he may lose one key health care swing vote, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
“The more they try to, sort of, drive this process in an unrealistic timeframe, the more reluctant I become about whether or not this can be doable in this timeframe that we’re talking about,” Snowe told reporters today.
Throughout the health care debate, Snowe has often pushed the principals to slow things down. So what might make her less reluctant?
“There’s always January,” Snowe said. “Frankly, I understand the value of deadlines, but this is getting, I think, unrealistic in terms of where we stand today. I mean you have to start filing cloture votes just to get done by Christmas. That’s going to have to happen pretty soon. Like maybe Wednesday.”
