Max Baucus: “this is a Patients' Bill of Rights bill. This is not a defense bill. This is not a foreign aid bill. This is not an…”

“this is a Patients' Bill of Rights bill. This is not a defense bill. This is not a foreign aid bill. This is not an agriculture bill. This is not a tax bill. This is the Patients' Bill of Rights bill. The amendment offered by my good friend from Oregon is not a Patients' Bill of Rights amendment. It is a tax amendment. In fact, he would like to report out of the Finance Committee, by his amendment, a bill that is currently in the Senate Finance Committee, a tax bill. Tax legislation does not properly lie at this moment on this bill. Pure and simple. Full stop. That ends it. I also say to my good friend from Oregon, I agree with permanent extension of the R&D tax credit. I daresay a majority of Senators agree. I cosponsored legislation in the past. The Finance Committee reported out a permanent extension, and the Senate-passed tax bill, that huge tax bill of $1.35 trillion, included permanent extension of the tax credit. Unfortunately, it did not survive in conference, but it is clear that the R&D tax credit has enormous support in this body. Does anybody here think there is not going to be another tax bill? Of course, nobody here believes there will not be another tax bill. There will be tax legislation this year. That is clear. The appropriate time for this Senate to appropriately include considering permanent extension of the R&D tax credit is when the tax legislation comes up.”