Max Baucus: “I first want to give a compliment to the Senator from New Mexico. He has been diligent--which is, I might say, an…”

“I first want to give a compliment to the Senator from New Mexico. He has been diligent--which is, I might say, an understatement--in the number of times that he has talked to me about addressing border problems facing New Mexico. I would say he has approached me a good dozen times on the proper way, the proper bill, the way to essentially deal with this problem. I commend him, and I think all of the residents of New Mexico can be very proud of their representative on this and other issues. There are other similar amendments pressed by Senators that deal with the basic similar problem, namely, how to address pollution along the border. It is a severe problem, there is no doubt about it. I was there, and I visited the border--not the New Mexico border--but the summer before last I was in El Paso and Juarez, and I can tell the Senator from New Mexico that I have visited colonias, and I have seen them, I have smelled them, tasted them. It is a severe problem. It turns your stomach to see the conditions under which a lot of people have to live.”