Max Baucus: “shortly we will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on this urgent legislation to create jobs and extend vital safety…”

“shortly we will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on this urgent legislation to create jobs and extend vital safety net and tax provisions. We have had a good debate. The Senate considered this bill on 7 separate days over the course of 2 workweeks. We have considered more than 30 amendments. We conducted a dozen rollcall votes. It is now time to bring this debate to a close. This is not just some technical bill; this measure helps real people. Failure to enact this bill would cause real hardship. Failure to enact this bill would cost jobs. Within weeks, this bill would help half a million workers who lose their jobs nationwide, including nearly 1,600 in my State of Montana, to remain eligible for help paying for their health insurance under the COBRA health insurance program. Unless we act, within weeks the average doctor in America will stand to lose more than $16,600 in payments from Medicare. The average doctor in Montana would lose $13,000. This bill would help nearly 40 million Medicare beneficiaries and nearly 9 million TRICARE beneficiaries nationwide to continue to have access to their doctors. That includes nearly 144,000 Montanans with Medicare and nearly 33,000 Montanans with TRICARE. Within weeks, this bill would help 400,000 Americans to be eligible for expanded unemployment insurance benefits. Thus, this important legislation would prevent millions of Americans from falling through the safety net.”