Max Baucus: “with deep reluctance, I oppose my good friend from South Carolina. I must say that I compliment him because it was…”

“with deep reluctance, I oppose my good friend from South Carolina. I must say that I compliment him because it was earlier that he suggested to me the stimulus to get the economy going. He was foresightful of that fact, and because of that recognition, we now find that the economy does need to be stimulated a little bit. I compliment him for that. I must oppose him on this amendment, however. This is a revenue measure. It has not been before the Finance Committee. In fact, it has in a certain sense been before the committee because it was part of a larger bill and the committee voted against it. Second, this is a revenue provision on an appropriations bill. Under the Constitution, it will be blue-slipped by the House. The House will automatically reject it. Beyond that, we just passed a tax bill. Let's not have a yo-yo, up- and-down tax bill. We can modify it later.”