The Washington Post reports that two Democratic Senators on the Finance committee are playing hardball over Max Baucus‘ health care reform bill, the one that was repeatedly diluted to curry favor with Republicans on the committee, said dilution process continuing well beyond the point said Republicans made it clear they weren’t going to support the bill anyway.

At least two Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have refused to pledge their support for the health-care reform bill scheduled for a vote this week, underscoring the hard work ahead for President Obama as he tries to enact the most ambitious domestic policy legislation in more than a generation.

Although chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) says he has the votes to pass the 10-year, $900 billion bill out of committee, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John “Jay” Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) remained undecided Sunday. If all 10 Republicans on the panel vote no, two Democratic defections would be enough to send Baucus and the Obama White House scrambling to regroup.

“More needs to be done to hold insurance companies accountable, to hold premiums down for the American people,” Wyden said in an interview Sunday. “I want to continue these discussions.”

The article hastens to add that “Committee defeat of the bill is an unlikely scenario”, but would it really be such a bad thing if Baucus’ bill died in committee? Insurance companies — and those who are in the pockets of insurance companies — would grieve, no doubt, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But is there much reason for liberals to be disappointed?

Harry Reid would be able to put the version approved by the Health committee before the Senate, instead of first having to dilute it by blending it with the Finance committee’s bill. Having the Health committee version as the starting point for Senate debate and amendments, instead of a blended version, surely counts as a plus? And what’s the downside, anyway?

Republicans — those on the Finance committee, especially — may be deeply disappointed, but I think I can manage to live with that. The only Republican who Democrats should care about at this point is Olympia Snowe, and she wanted to strengthen the Baucus bill anyway. Besides, it’s not clear that Democrats should be overly concerned with Olympia Snowe’s every whim and fancy. It seems more and more likely that the only viable route to passing meaningful healthcare reform in the Senate is by defeating the Republican filibuster, and then passing the bill with 51 votes on the floor. Snowe’s vote becomes pivotal only if she is needed to defeat the filibuster. Which is to say, only if a single lone Democrat decides to join the Republican filibuster. I’m not sure I actually see that happening.