Considering that Senator Snowe can in no way be considered merely a partisan bomb-thrower, this is pretty strong criticism. I'm glad to see somebody up there has some common sense.
Democrats tried to "railroad" healthcare through Congress, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said today.
Snowe, a key centrist Republican on the Finance Committee, said the committee was hard at work poring over every detail of the possible legislation, and compared that process to what Democrats tried to do earlier this session.
"[We're] doing what should have been done at the outset of this year, rather than trying to railroad a procses in an unrealistic timeframe," Snowe told MSNBC's Morning Joe.
Snowe added that the emphasis on deadlines has placed an unnecessary burden on the process.
"Let's get off timetables and timeframes, because they certainly don't work and they haven't worked," Snowe said, adding that deadlines have "contributed to the problems and to the escalation" of the political battle surrounding healthcare.