Senator sees 'one or two' defectors in Finance health vote

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) believes there may be "one or two" defections among Democrats and Republicans in Tuesday's closely watched vote on a health bill in the Senate Finance Committee, one senator said Monday.

Barrasso, who is not a member of that committee, predicted some crossovers during the vote on Tuesday to approve the last of the health reform bills in Congress out of committee.

"I think it will be a partisan-line vote, for the most part," Barrasso said during an interview on Fox News. "There may be one or two on either side."

Still, the senator — who has been at the forefront of GOP arguments against the health proposals in the Senate — said he expected no major surprises during the vote.

The 23-member committee, made up of 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans, will vote Tuesday. Of the Republicans on the committee, Democrats have most aggressively courted Sen. Olympia Snowe's (R-Maine) support for health reform.

Barrasso also defended an audit of the bill released by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Monday that was commissioned by the insurance industry as affirming voters' concerns about the Finance Committee bill.

"This tells me exactly what I've heard all around town hall meetings this summer," he said. "A lot of this is Washington double-speak. Washington has never been honest or accurate with its numbers."