Woolsey: We're 'not the United States of Maine'

The U.S. should not begin to resemble a "United States of Maine," the co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) warned Thursday.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey's (D-Calif.) tough line is a shot at Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins -- two centrists that Senate Democrats have long courted to the frustration of some liberals, who worry that winning the lawmakers' votes would cost them the substance of health reform legislation.

"We're the United States of America," Woolsey noted, "not the United States of Maine."

All eyes have been on both Snowe and Collins after the prior lawmaker broke with her party on Tuesday and voted to approve Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) healthcare proposal.

Democratic leaders, including the president and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), have since showered Snowe with considerable praise. And while Snowe has insisted her vote on Tuesday is hardly tantamount to a vote in favor of whatever bill Democrats bring to the floor, the party's leaders now seem determined to win her support -- perhaps in part to stave off GOP criticisms that their bill is not bipartisan.

But Senate Democrats are also betting that any changes they make to their reform bill to satisfy Snowe will also appeal to Collins, who has vote in tandem with her Maine colleague on key legislation in the past. But Collins -- a swing vote who does not sit on the Finance Committee -- has not revealed whether she would have voted for Baucus' proposal. She has, however, long questioned the mark's costs and effects on insurance premiums.

Nevertheless, Woolsey's remark on Thursday perhaps hints at key policy differences between her House caucus and Snowe or Collins.

Among other things, the California House member has long pined for a "robust public option," which the two Maine senators publicly oppose. Nor is Woolsey a fan of the public option "trigger" -- an idea Snowe has pitched for months.