Max Baucus: “I have very mixed emotions. First, I am very disappointed in a process that led to this midnight power play. This bill…”

“I have very mixed emotions. First, I am very disappointed in a process that led to this midnight power play. This bill, as has been pointed out by others speaking before me, is almost 4,000 pages long. It weighs 40 pounds. It contains about $500 billion in Federal spending. I might tell you, Mr. President, that $500 billion is enough to pay for the State budget of Montana for 200 years. It was also produced within 24 hours' notice of this vote. As a practical matter, most offices had no more than a few hours to look at this bill. They had no copies of it. They had to go to a central location and wade through it with other staff members. There is nobody in this entire Congress who knows all of the provisions in this bill; it is that massive, and it was written behind closed doors. Mr. President, I will admit that it is a with many worthwhile projects and programs. For example, it provides assistance for farmers, so important to the State of Montana and other farming states. It has provisions that help increase our investment in education, again not only for the Nation but for my State of Montana. It provides important new tools on the war against drugs. And it provides important new funding for health care programs.”