The hope of bipartisan and comprehensive health care legislation lives on today thanks to the vote in the Finance Committee of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).  The bill reported out of the Finance Committee is bipartisan.  Not just because it received support from members of both parties, but because you can see both Republican and Democratic values in the solution. 

For Republicans, the bill relies heavily on market forces and incentives, and it slows the rate of health care cost growth to the tune of reduced budget deficits.  For Democrats, the bill finally provides all Americans access to quality health coverage and strengthens the Medicare program for our nation's seniors. 

As Sen. Snowe and others said, this bill is not perfect.  It will likely be improved along the way.  But it does get serious about solving the access, quality, and cost problems in our health system.  While addressing these challenges on a bipartisan basis requires tough choices, it does not require lawmakers to abandon their underlying goals. It is in her willingness to find policy solutions that will actually solve our health care crisis that Sen. Snowe outshines her colleagues on her side of the aisle on the Finance Committee. 

Let the record show that the Senate Finance Committee approved bipartisan health reform legislation today, and that America took a giant step toward becoming a better country.