That's the number of Republican Senators who ultimately signed on to the health care bill put forward by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) this morning.
For months, Baucus and an increasingly small group of Democrats and Republicans -- known as the Gang of Six -- worked behind closed doors to hammer out legislation that carried at least the patina of bipartisanship.
Slowly but surely Republican negotiators -- Senate Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Sen. Mike Enzi (Wyo.) -- dropped out of the negotiations until there was only Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) left. But, on Tuesday Snowe said she could not support the bill as currently written.
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) seized on the lack of GOP support for Baucus' bill in a statement on the bill released moments ago. "Forcing through a partisan bill gives the impression that Democratic leadership and the White House are more concerned with political victories than they are with passing lasting, bipartisan health care reform," said Cornyn.
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