The title of a recently released Yahoo! article as far as senators slugging it out over health care is "Health bill clears hurdle with support from Sen. Snowe". So Sen. Snowe is in the spotlight again, just like she was during the passage of the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

Snowe said: "When history calls, history calls".

From the White House, President Obama hailed these latest developments as "a critical milestone".

According to Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, "We are going to get this done", adding that "The bottom line is WE NEED A FINAL BILL, a merged bill (between the House and the Senate) that gets 60 votes. Our goal is to pass health care reform (and) not just talk about it". However, talk is necessary because the right stuff has to be in the bill. If the bill is hastily crafted with major amendments left out and/or errors, this would be embarrassing and potentially devastating/catastrophic.

Now, of course, there were some people griping and yes, these are Republicans (what a surprise). "Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the legislation would place the nation "on a slippery slope to more and more GOVERNMENT CONTROL of health care". Sen. Grassley still doesn't get it. Hey, if YOU don't like your health care right now AS A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE, you can also switch to private coverage. With this in mind (i.e. you have federal insurance as part of the government), why then are you fighting so hard for private health care? This is HYPOCRITICAL.

"Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, elicited testimony earlier from the head of the Congressional Budget Committee that a substantial portion OF THE BILL'S TAX INCREASES would fall on groups (that) Obama has vowed would be protected: individuals making $200000 or less (a year) and couples making less than $250000". There's the old GOP issue of taxes again.

In her final comments, Snowe tried to mediate: "We should also contemplate THE DECADES OF INACTION that have brought us to this CROSSROADS. The status quo has produced one common denominator, that is, WE HAVE A PROBLEM THAT IS GROWING WORSE, NOT BETTER". Boy, Sen. Snowe sounded like President Obama in that statement. The trick now, is to convince some of her skeptical colleagues to come on board.