The word for the last week or two has been that the White House is hoping that, by moving toward a “triggered” public option, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) will be the 60th vote for health care reform. In the background, many have wondered whether Snowe’s almost-as-moderate colleague, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), would join in as vote number 61.
The answer to that appears to be “no.”
“The problem with the trigger is that it just delays the public option, because the people who are going to be making the determination about whether the market is competitive enough want the public option. So I think the trigger is just a delay.”
That’s not 100 percent iron clad, but there’s certainly not much reason to think she’ll help break a health care filibuster.
