Snowe to Vote 'No' on Ryan Budget

The Hill reports:

Centrist Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said Tuesday that she will vote against Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget when it comes up for a vote in the Senate.

Snowe, who is up for reelection in 2012, praised Ryan for proposing a budget but said that she disagrees with the way it reforms Medicare.

"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 told em>The Portland Press Herald<.

Snowe joins her fellow Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) and Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R), each a centrist who has said they will oppose the budget. Like Snowe, Brown faces reelection in 2012.

Freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has also said he will vote against it, but he says that's because the plan does not go far enough in cutting spending.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is expected to hold a vote soon, possibly this week, on the plan. The plan is expected to fail, but Reid has said it could elucidate divisions within the Republican Party.