Max Baucus: “I will speak on a different matter for about 2 minutes. I wish to compliment the senior Senator from Kentucky for his…”

“I will speak on a different matter for about 2 minutes. I wish to compliment the senior Senator from Kentucky for his longtime work on behalf of dissidents in Burma. Very recently, he visited Burma. He met Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. As the senior Senator from Kentucky reported to us earlier this morning on the floor of the Senate, we as Americans are making real progress in Burma. Our sanctions in Burma are working. The government there is relenting. I have had briefings from the State Department, and while we need to retain sanctions for the time being to encourage further progress, it is undeniable that we have been seeing real progress in Burma. The dissidents, as led by Aung San Suu Kyi, are engaged in this process. Again, I want to compliment the Senator from Kentucky for his 20 years of work in this area, and I think it is probably in large part due to his efforts that we are making progress in Burma. Mr. President, turning back to the subject at hand, Alexander Hamilton once said: To be able to borrow upon good terms, it is essential that the credit of a nation should be well established. That is obvious. We have low interest rates today because so far we have been able to borrow on good terms. The good terms are that the American people and investors worldwide know the United States is a safe haven given all the consternation occurring in the world, the problems in Europe, for example, and other countries.…”