Max Baucus: “I am glad we passed the bill here now-- it already passed the House--to help all of those Americans who find the tragedy…”

“I am glad we passed the bill here now-- it already passed the House--to help all of those Americans who find the tragedy in Haiti so wrenching and want to help. Americans are trying to help in lots of ways. Some are taking orphans into their homes. I have worked, as an example, in the last several days with many churches and organizations, including especially the Catholic Relief Society, to just help in any way we possibly can. But there are other Americans who just want to help with financial contributions. So this bill enables many people--in my home State of Montana, many people have contacted me to say: Max, what can we do to help? And this is essentially an effort to help people who want to help, so they can get a deduction on their 2009 tax returns if that deduction is made between basically the date of the earthquake, January 11, and March 1. So any contributions made during this period will be tax-deductible on 2009 income tax returns.”