Olympia J. Snowe
Table of contents
- 1. Current Position: U.S. Senator (since January 1995)
- 2. Why She Matters
- 2.1. At a Glance
- 3. Path to Power
- 3.1. U.S. House
- 3.2. U.S. Senate
- 4. The Issues
- 4.1. Health-Care Reform
- 4.2. The Economy
- 4.3. Balancing the Budget
- 4.4. Reproductive Rights
- 4.5. Iraq & Defense Issues
- 5. The Network
- 6. Footnotes
Credit: Linda Davidson/TWPCurrent Position: U.S. Senator (since January 1995)
Why She Matters
At a Glance
Current Position: U.S. Senator (since 1995)
Career History: U.S. Representative (1978 to 1994); Maine State Senator (1976 to 1978); Maine House (1973 to 1976)
Birthday: Feb. 21, 1947
Hometown: Auburn, Maine
Alma Mater: University of Maine, B.A. (Political Science), 1969
Spouse: John R. McKernan, Jr.
Religion: Greek Orthodox
Committees: Senate Finance Committee, Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ranking member); Select Committee on Intelligence; Commerce, Science & Transportation
DC Office: 154 Russell Senate Office Building,
State Office: Auburn,
As one of the only Republican moderates left in the Senate, Snowe has been at the center of some of the upper chamber's most divisive policy debates and has helped craft compromises on some of the nation's most polarizing issues.
Throughout her career in public office, she has shown a willingness to defy her party’s leadership. Snowe supports abortion rights, opposes drilling in the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and has backed proposals long-heralded as bedrocks of the Democratic platform, including adding prescription drug benefits to Medicare and raising the minimum wage.Abrams Jim. “Maine senator has history of being in the middle of things” 4/11/04 Associated Press State and Local Wire She was the only Republican on the Senate Finance Committee to vote in favor of health-reform legislation during President Obama's 2009 push to overhaul the health-insurance system.
Snowe has a history of breaking barriers. In 1978, at the age of 31, she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She is the only woman in history to serve in both houses of her state legislatures and both chambers of Congress. These accomplishments prompted Forbes magazine in 2005 to name Snowe the 54th most powerful woman in the world. Snowe official biography, Senate web site
When she’s not brokering deals in 
Washington or blazing the trail for future female political leaders, Snowe’s dedication to constituents has helped her maintain a loyal base at home in Maine. She is known for returning to her state nearly every weekend for her signature “Main Street tours” in small communities. She has won battles to keep open two Maine military bases that were recommended and for securing financial relief for low-income Maine residents struggling to pay heating bills.Time.com, "Olympia J. Snowe: The Caretaker," April 14, 2006 Time magazine named her one of the "Ten Best Senators" in 2006.
Snowe won re-election to a third term in 2008 with 61 percent of the vote. She is up for re-election in 2012.
Path to Power
Snowe was born in Augusta, Maine, to a father born in Greece and a mother whose parents emigrated from Sparta. Both her parents died when she was a child, and she was raised by her aunt and uncle in Auburn, Maine. She attended grade school at St. Basil’s Academy, a New York private Greek Orthodox school, then returned to Maine where she graduated from Little High School in Auburn.
Snowe entered politics in 1973, when she was elected to fill the seat of her late husband, state Rep. Peter Snowe, who died in a car accident that year.
U.S. House
In 1978, Snowe ran for Congress and won Maine’s 2nd district House seat by a large margin after Republican William Cohen vacated it to run successfully for the Senate. 
While in the House, Snowe was an advocate for women, co-chairing the Congressional Caucus on Women’s issues for ten years and helping establish the National Institute of Health’s Office of Women’s Health. She also served as a member of the House Budget Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Select Committee on Aging.
U.S. Senate
In 1994, Snowe won her Senate seat in a landslide victory over Rep. Tom Andrews, a liberal Democrat. Snowe jumped at the chance to run when then-Senate Democratic Leader George Mitchell (D), announced 
his retirement and immediately went on the offensive by attacking Andrews.
Snowe’s popularity in Maine and her independent streak in Washington have secured her fairly easy re-elections She has never lost a race and has won more federal elections in Maine than any person since World War II.Almanac of American Politics, 2008 edition, Snowe’s Senate Web site biography
She serves on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence; the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Small Business & Entrepreunership Committee, where she is a former chairwoman and now ranking member.
The Issues
Snowe is one of a dying breed of moderate Republican lawmakers that have been traditionally elected from the Northeast. As such, she typically plays a pivotal role in the divided Senate, where her vote on big issues is eagerly courted by both Democrats and Republicans. She usually votes with her party on defense and foreign policy matters, while breaking with Democrats on economic and cultural issues.
In the 111th Congress, Snowe has voted with her party just 58.2 percent of the time, a measure equal to that of her Maine colleague, Sen. Susan Collins (R).Washington Post Votes Database
Health-Care Reform
Snowe's willingness to work across party lines made her a key figure in the 2009 health-care reform debate.
As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, one of two Senate committees with jurisdiction over health care, Snowe was one of the few Republicans to cross party lines and support Finance Democrats on issues, such as taxing health-insurer profits. Volsky, Igor, "Olympia Snowe Joins Senate Finance Dems to Support Taxing Health Insurer Profits," Think Progress, The Wonk Room, July 16, 2009
Snowe was a member of Finance Chairman Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) powerful 'Gang of Six,' who spent the summer of 2009 trying to craft a bipartisan health-care reform bill. 
Snowe and Baucus joined Republicans Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Democrats Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Jeff Bingaman (N.M.) to try to find a compromise. Herszenhorn, David M. and Robert Pear, "Health Policy is Carved Out at Table for 6," The New York Times, July 27, 2009
The group rejected the Obama administration's signature public health-insurance option. Snowe proposed a "trigger" option, in which the public plan would go into effect only if private insurance failed to lower costs and expand coverage to the uninsured. CQ Transcriptwire, "CBS: Sen. Snowe on a Public Option 'Trigger,'" The Washington Post, September 13, 2009 The gang also considered Conrad's proposal to create a network of private, non-profit insurance cooperatives,Herszenhorn, David M. and Robert Pear, "Health Policy is Carved Out at Table for 6," The New York Times, July 27, 2009
Snowe seemed willing to cut a deal, if the terms were right, and became the Obama administration's best hope for passing a bipartisan bill.
"There are not many occasions when we have the opportunity to sit down and immerse ourselves in an issue like this, an issue that has profound implications for the country, with historic overtones, to say the least,” Snowe told the New York Times. “I feel privileged to participate.”Herszenhorn, David M. and Robert Pear, "Health Policy is Carved Out at Table for 6," The New York Times, July 27, 2009
In September 2009, Snowe told CBS's Face the Nation that the president should take a public health-insurance option off the table. "There's no way to pass a plan that includes the public option," she said. Levi, Michelle, CBS's Face the Nation, "Snowe: Public Option Blocks Consensus," September 13, 2009
By the time Finance Chairman Max Baucus released a bill in September 2009, Snowe's was the vote to get on health-care. Democrats needed the moderate Republican to add a sheen of bipartisanship to the bill.
During the Finance Committee's exhaustive 15-day mark-up of the Baucus proposal, Democrats were quite receptive to Snowe's amendments, including one that would weaken the requirement to buy health care after Snowe said she was concerned the government would make people buy plans they could not afford. In the end, Snowe was the only Republican to vote the bill out of committee to the full Senate. It passed 14 votes to 9.
The Economy
On economic issues, Snowe has sought to strike a balance between cutting government spending and providing support and relief for her constituents.
Snowe supported the 2008 financial bailout program that created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes But she has since introduced legislation with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to strenghten oversight of the $700 billion program and its inspector general, Neil Barofsky. Snowe web site, Press release: Snowe Hails Passage of Bill Strengthening Special Inspector General’s Power to Oversee Rescue Plan Funds, Dec. 12, 2008
She also bucked her party to support President Obama's 2009 economic stimulus plan, and touted the fact that she helped craft the targeted tax benefits included in the final bill. Snowe web site, Press release: Snowe Plays Pivotal Role in Advancing Tax Portion of Economic Stimulus Measure, Jan. 28, 2009
Balancing the Budget
Snowe has long called for a balanced budget. While serving in the House in 1993, Snowe was one of four initial sponsors of legislation that would mandate a balanced budget, and one of her first acts as senator was to deliver a speech in front of a Senate committee supporting a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.Fritz, Jane, "The New York Times, In Budget Battle, a Different Balancing Act," May 20, 1995
Her early Senate campaigns reinforced a message of drastically cutting costs in Washington.
But Snowe has also emphatically fought to preserve spending on education and Medicare, and spoken out against measures she believed would harm small business owners in Maine even when those provisions proved costly.Bangor Daily News, “Senators support vote on minimum wage act," Oct, 28, 1995
One of the defining moments of Snowe’s Senate career was her 2003 showdown with Republican colleagues and the Bush administration over the proposed $700 billion in tax cuts included in the 2004 budget. Snowe adamantly opposed the figure and wanted to cut that number in half, to $350 billion. She ultimately agreed to vote for a budget that endorsed $550 billion in tax cuts, but not without intensive pressure from Republican leaders and the White House and a promise from then Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that House and Senate negotiations would produce a final budget that allowed no more than $350 billion in tax cuts over ten years. She also supported pay-as-you-go budget rules requiring any spending increases or tax cuts to be offset by other revenue.National Journal, Almanac of American Politics, 2008 edition
Reproductive Rights
Snowe has long been a supporter of abortion rights. Just two years into her first Senate term, she attracted national attention at the 1996 Republican National Convention by fighting to have the anti-abortion stance removed from the party platform.Kinzie, Susan, Bangor Daily News, "Finding their Way, Sens. Snowe and Collins Aim to Make an Impact," Feb. 8, 1997
NARAL Pro-Choice America gives Snowe a 100 percent rating in 2009.NARAL Pro-Choice Senator Ratings Snowe has also been a strong advocate for women’s health issues, calling from greater funding for women’s health research.Almanac of American Politics, 2008 edition
Iraq & Defense Issues
Snowe tends to vote with Republicans on national defense issues. She supported both President Clinton’s intervention in Kosovo and early military action in Iraq. She has also worked to save several Maine shipyards and military bases from closure over the years, battles that helped her in her first Senate bid and have earned her widespread support in Maine.
Snowe was an early advocate of unilateral military action against Iraq, arguing that the threat that the country was developing biological, chemical and radioactive weapons was too great to ignore.“Sen. Olympia Snowe supports unilateral military action against Iraq” Associated Press However, she became the second Republican to endorse the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.USA Today, Second Republican backs troop withdrawal bill, July 11, 2007
In July, 2007, Snowe joined then-Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) in co-sponsoring a bill requiring that withdrawal of American forces in Iraq commence within 120 days and that combat operations cease by April 30, 2008. Though Snowe initially opposed such measures, she said at the time that worsening conditions caused her to reconsider.
“Frankly, given the fact that the Iraqi government isn’t prepared to change its own political direction, we should be prepared to change course with respect to our strategy,” she told reporters at the time.
The Network
As one of the Senate’s only remaining moderate Republicans, Snowe and former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) headed the Centrist Coalition. She also co-chairs with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) the Common Ground Coalition, a centrist group that focuses on improving communication between Senate Democrats and Republicans 
and has been an outspoken advocate of increasing communication across the aisle. Snowe web site, biography
She is a key member of the Senate Finance Committee, where she works with chairman Max Baucus and ranking member Charles Grassley to craft compromise bills. And she works closely with fellow Maine senator, woman and Republican, Susan Collins.
Snowe has often spoken fondly of former Defense Secretary William Cohen, whom she succeeded in the House. Snowe worked as an aide for Cohen, a former congressman and senator from Maine, before running for House in 1978.
Snowe is now married to former Maine Gov. John McKernan (R), a former House colleague whom she wed in 1989.
Footnotes
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