Max Baucus: “I rise to speak on two amendments. It will be the first amendment offered by the Senator from Ohio, his first amendment…”

“I rise to speak on two amendments. It will be the first amendment offered by the Senator from Ohio, his first amendment, and also I will speak on an amendment offered by the Senator from Pennsylvania. I think the Senator from Maryland, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, will speak on the second Portman amendment. I chuckled this morning. I see two new Members, very able Members of the Senate, who are now members of the Senate Finance Committee, follow their urges to offer amendments immediately to bills before the Senate. Senator Portman is doing that, Senator Toomey is doing that, and I commend them, very much commend them for being so interested in the subject and allowing their intellectual juices to flow and come up with something that is new and different and in their view might make some sense. I think part of this is because of the newly found efforts here in the Senate, and desire in the Senate, certainly among rank-and-file Members, to do something. What you hear around here is: ``Regular order.'' That is something I very much subscribe to, namely let the committees do their work. Senator Portman and Senator Toomey are certainly following that tradition by offering amendments so the Senate Finance Committee, or in this case the Senate floor, is doing its work with respect to the pending measure. I want to start by saying how much I appreciate the efforts of the Speaker, Speaker Boehner.…”