Max Baucus: “I do not know any Member of the Senate who has more respect and regard for the Senator from West Virginia than myself.…”

“I do not know any Member of the Senate who has more respect and regard for the Senator from West Virginia than myself. He is a Senator's Senator. He knows more about and defends this institution far more than any other Senator. He really lives for his people in West Virginia, for this institution, and for the country. I wish more people knew how hard the Senator from West Virginia fights for all those causes and all those beliefs in such a dignified way. I have the highest respect for the Senator. I understand his concerns about this bill. I share some of those concerns. I think most Members of the Senate privately share some of the concerns that perhaps this tax cut is a little too large because it is hard to predict what the budget surplus is going to be in the future. But we have provided for this amount in the budget resolution. It did pass the Senate. I know the Senator from West Virginia believes that budget was inappropriate and did not vote for it. As the Senator knows, more than any other Senator here, we still have that budget resolution that passed through the conference and we are in this Chamber with a tax bill that passed the Senate Finance Committee. There are a lot of provisions in this bill that are major improvements over the President's proposal and/or measures passed by the House.”