Max Baucus: “I would not have written the House bill in the way it was written. I don't agree with everything in the House bill. In…”

“I would not have written the House bill in the way it was written. I don't agree with everything in the House bill. In fact, I think there are some measures there that probably should be addressed and amended. I also think, though, that we need to get to the House-passed bill so we can fix the AMT. We can't fix the AMT until we get to that bill. Once we get to that bill, any Senator, irrespective of whether cloture has been filed, can always file a motion to strike. So if there are measures in the House bill that the Senator does not like or the Senator from Texas doesn't like or anybody doesn't like, that motion to strike is available. If we get to the House bill, I am going to offer a compromise which I think the vast majority of the Members of this body will accept. We need to get to the bill. We need to vote cloture and get to the bill so we can cure this AMT problem, offer amendments that Senators might find objectionable to the House bill. At the same time, I am going to offer a compromise proposal which I believe will dispose of it. I urge my friends on the other side to let us get on the bill. Then we can vote to strike. We can vote on this compromise proposal I will offer. I mentioned that there are various versions we could vote on. One is just straight AMT unpaid for, period. That is an option. To get there, we need to get to the bill.”