Roll Call reports that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said today that he could receive on Wednesday the final Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of the latest version of his panel's health reform bill. "Baucus declined to predict how long Finance members might take to review the revised CBO score before voting on the bill, first priced at $900 billion. Finance members are expected to approve package sometime later this week."
In the meantime, Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday that she hasn't ruled out supporting the bill, Roll Call reports. But she also "refused to speculate on her role in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) merger of the Finance bill with a measure passed by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee." She said her involvement in "negotiations with Democratic leaders and the White House depends on their flexibility" (Drucker and Pierce, 10/6).