4th GOP Senator announces "no" vote on Ryan budget

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Sen. Olympia Snowe (R., Maine) is the fourth Republican senator to announce that she will vote against the House Republican budget, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised the bring to a vote this week.

“I am going to vote no on the budget because I have deep and abiding concerns about the approach on Medicare, which is essentially to privatize it,” Snowe said in an interview with the Portland Press Herald.

She also opposes the Ryan budget’s proposal to block-grant Medicaid to the states, arguing that it would prompt many state governments to slash services in order to save money. “The states are the great laboratories,” Snowe said. “But we also have an overall obligation to serve specific populations under Medicaid. We don’t want to encourage a race to the bottom.”

Snowe joins Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine), Scott Brown (R., Mass.), and Rand Paul (R., Ky.) on the list of confirmed GOP ‘no’ votes. Reid said he expects to vote on the Ryan budget this Thursday.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/268020/snowes-no-ryan-budget-andrew-stiles