Max Baucus: “I must say it is delightful to listen to the Senator from Mississippi. I wish sometimes he could come to the floor more…”

“I must say it is delightful to listen to the Senator from Mississippi. I wish sometimes he could come to the floor more often. He makes a good point, that we have to work together. And we all know that we try hard to work together. At the same time, Senators have the right to offer amendments. We will work together the very best we can. I want to say how much I appreciate the comments he made and how much I appreciate the addition he is making to the discussion. As I noted in my opening statement, one of the weightiest differences between the underlying House bill and the pending Senate substitute before us is that the House bill includes capital gains and dividend tax cuts. The Senate didn't include them. The Senate chose instead to favor AMT protection for working families. We couldn't do both. The Senate chose to apply the AMT relief. There are several reasons the Senate did not include the capital gains and dividend tax cuts. One among the many good reasons is that the Senate's rules make them hard to include. In a moment, I will propound a series of parliamentary inquiries to the Presiding Officer on this point. But let me first take a moment to explain. The Senate's Byrd rule--actually, we know there are several Byrd rules--section 313 of the Congressional Budget Act contains what a reconciliation bill can include. The rule is named after the distinguished senior Senator from West Virginia.…”