Max Baucus: “I am more than willing to sit down and try to work this out, but at this point I think any attempt to split them out is…”

“I am more than willing to sit down and try to work this out, but at this point I think any attempt to split them out is to jeopardize the AGOA bill, and as I mentioned earlier, there are already thousands of women who have lost their jobs in Africa because of our delay in passing AGOA. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader. Mr. McCONNELL. Let me make sure I understand where we are. The consent agreement to pass the Burma sanctions bill today, before it expires, is clear on this side of the aisle--clear. The chairman of the Finance Committee has announced, to my surprise, that the administration does not favor allowing Burma sanctions to pass today because it is attached to something related to other matters. So make no mistake about it, we have, for the first time in the history of this issue, turned it into a partisan matter. We have spoken with one voice in America relating to Burma, under administrations of both parties and Senates of both parties. Yet today, for the first time, we have a partisan split over an issue about which America ought to be speaking with one voice. I basically have said all I have to say. I do want to hear from Senator Coburn. I know he has strong feelings about the other part of the measure about which I am basically not familiar. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.”