Max Baucus: “I begin by commending my good friend, the chairman of the Committee on Finance. He is a great American. People in Iowa…”

“I begin by commending my good friend, the chairman of the Committee on Finance. He is a great American. People in Iowa are very lucky to have him representing them. I know of no finer man in the Senate. I know Senator Grassley sought to defend the Senate's position in the conference committee. He is a proud man, too. He wanted to do what is right in defending the Senate's position, but I regret the conference committee could not end up more like the Senate product because the conference before the Senate today is much different than the bill that passed the Senate. It is so different that I am raising questions as to how much of the Senate bill we have in the conference. This past Saturday, Lillian Asplund died. Ms. Asplund was the last American survivor of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. She was the last survivor with actual memories of the event. Ms. Asplund's life reminds us that people make choices, and those choices can have significant consequences. Just as much, the bill before the Senate today reflects choices. Those choices will have significant consequences. Shortly after midnight on that cold morning of April 15, 1912, passengers started evacuating that doomed ship. At the beginning, women and children went first. But it was not long before that rule gave way. Soon it became clear that the privileged went into the rescue boats first.…”