Max Baucus: “I hope the majority side will not object. PNTR transcends all other issues that are before the Senate. It is an…”

“I hope the majority side will not object. PNTR transcends all other issues that are before the Senate. It is an international issue. It is a public policy, a foreign policy issue, one which clearly falls in the category of politics stopping at the water's edge. This measure is monumental in its implications. It must pass. The sooner it passes, the better. Delay is danger. We all know that our relations with China are extremely important but also tenuous. The more this issue is delayed, the more likely it is that some untoward, unanticipated, unexpected event might occur which would deteriorate relations between our two countries and make it more difficult to pass a very needed piece of legislation. I understand the majority's concern about scheduling, about appropriations bills, about other matters. But I strongly urge the majority party and the leader of the majority party, who correctly sets the schedule, to put politics beyond this, to put policy, public interest, and national security above all the other concerns that are legitimate here in the Senate because once PNTR is set for a vote this month, I predict that the logjam will break.”