Snowe declines invitation to White House health summit

Centrist Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) on Wednesday said that President Barack Obama  invited her to the White House's bipartisan healthcare summit but that she declined to attend.

The White House has frequently courted Snowe's vote on the Democrats' healthcare reform plan throughout the debate, but her top spokesman said that she did not want to step on the toes of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who selected the GOP participants.

Snowe spokesman John Gentzel said in a statement Wednesday:

Senator Snowe did receive a call from the White House this morning to attend tomorrow’s bipartisan health care summit. While she greatly appreciates the invitation, the Republican leadership understood the rules of the summit, as established by the Administration weeks ago, were that the Democratic and Republican leadership would select their own members to participate in the event. The Republican leadership had long since selected their team and therefore, it would have been inappropriate for Senator Snowe, under those circumstances, to accept the invitation. This is a summit between the leadership and the President and she believes it is a critical opportunity for the respective leadership teams to convey their ideas directly with the President. 

If she would have accepted the invite, Snowe's presence would have added a centrist element to the otherwise conservative lineup McConnell is planning to send to the White House Thursday. 

Besides McConnell, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) will represent Senate Republicans at the meeting.

Snowe was the only Senate Republican to vote for the healthcare bill at any point in the process when she helped pass the bill out of the Senate Finance Committee last year. She did not, however, vote for the final bill upon cloture or final passage.