The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a moderate health care reform plan. The bill, which was approved with one Republican vote, inches U.S. President Barack Obama closer to him accomplishing his goal of achieving health care overhaul this year. Maine Republican Olympia Snowe said she was temporarily laying aside her concerns and voting to advance the bill, a sweeping $829-billon, 10-year health care overhaul that would help most Americans get coverage without creating a new government insurance plan. “When history calls, history calls,” said Snowe. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus called his bill “a commonsense, balanced solution.” Before hearing that the bill had passed, White House Press Secretary said that having Snowe's voice in the Senate is “important,” but he backed Obama's statements that a stronger bill is more important than a bipartisan bill. When asked about the kind of bill the president would like to see, he consistently reiterated the need for the legislation to include “choice and competition.” Health care legislation is expected to be on the Senate floor in two weeks, said a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. But it will not be the Baucus bill. Reid will combine the Finance version with a more liberal proposal from the health committee. “When all these bills get merged,” Obama will assess the reform then, Gibbs said, adding that despite the work ahead, he thinks that “the president will continue to make the case for health care reform this year.”
