The Public Record
Max Baucus is a former U.S. Senator from Montana, serving from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, Baucus was known for his work on health care reform and tax policy. He played a significant role in the passage of the Affordable Care Act and was a key advocate for various economic initiatives during his tenure. Baucus also served as the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, where he influenced legislation related to taxation and trade. After leaving the Senate, he was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to China, where he focused on strengthening U.S.-China relations.
This is a jobs bill. This is a safety net extenders bill. This is not a health care bill. Four Senators just spoke--I think there were four; six of them altogether--basically being very critical of the health care reform bill we passed in…
This is very simple: $10 billion is $10 billion. This amendment takes $10 billion away from health care reform. We must pass health care reform this year, and we need the dollars we can get. Ten billion dollars is a lot. Right now, as we…
This is a killer point of order. This point of order would kill the underlying substitute amendment. It would prevent people from getting COBRA benefits. It would prevent people from getting their unemployment checks. It would cause…
I hope we can vote on this fairly soon. Basically, let's remind ourselves this is an emergency. We have lost over 7 million jobs in this recession. We are not out of the recession. Unemployment is close to 10 percent. We hope it comes…
I oppose the Grassley amendment for two reasons. I oppose it reluctantly. Senator Grassley is a very decent man. His heart is almost always in the right place. It is in the right place here, but I oppose this amendment. First, the…
The Thune amendment has its heart in the right place. It is trying to help small businesses and provide jobs. But, frankly, it has two very significant problems. Therefore, I urge it not be adopted. First, it makes permanent many…
Frankly, it is my preference, strange as it may sound, that the extension be not 7 months but 3 months... I firmly expect health care reform to be passed within 3 months. If the formula, the sustainable growth rate, is extended for 3…
This is a killer motion the Senator from Florida is making. This amendment kills jobs. This amendment tells people who are currently unemployed: You are not going to get an unemployment check. This amendment tells people who are trying to…
I think if we really pull together this can be a really great bipartisan thing, a good thing for our country.
I want to clear up the record. That is not the case at all. As far as I am concerned, Senator Bunning can have his vote. He can have his vote on his pay-for. The point is, does Senator Bunning want an assurance that he has enough votes…
We now return to the urgent legislation to create jobs and extend vital safety net and tax provisions. This urgent legislation would prevent millions of Americans from falling through the safety net. It would extend vital programs that…
We are here to do the people's business. The folks in our home States elected us to do what is right. Most folks don't care too much about the process, as long as we get our job done and as long as it is reasonable, within the boundaries…
Unemployment benefits in Montana are about $300 a month. That is all. It is $300 a month in Montana. I know doggone well that is not enough to keep anybody going very long. Lots of folks are looking for jobs, and they are not available…
The fact is, the President's Council of Economic Advisers has concluded this legislation; that is, the health care reform legislation which is not before us right now, actually would create jobs, new jobs. That is the conclusion of the…
Martin Luther King, Jr., once said: Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others? Pretty much all of us came here to the Senate to work on that urgent question. Pretty much all of us came here to help other Americans. On a…
The Senator from Arizona argues that unemployment insurance is a disincentive to jobs. Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't think anybody who is out of work and receiving unemployment insurance believes that payment is…
We are here today to help create jobs. Everyone is thinking about jobs and ways to create more of them. Business owners, workers, community leaders across the country, especially in my home State of Montana, are asking what Congress is…
I urge the Senate to pass by unanimous consent H.R. 4532, the Social Security Disability Applicants' Access to Professional Representation Act of 2010, which was recently passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 412 to 6…
The next amendment is about whether the United States will pay its bills. It is about whether the United States will continue to pay the interest it owes on the money it has borrowed. The spending laws that created the debt are behind us…
There is a real reason why it is important to protect Social Security. Social Security is probably the most successful social program this Congress, this country, has ever adopted. Look how many people it has helped. If we did not have…
I do not think there is any disagreement among Senators that it is important to reduce our deficit and debt. That is not the issue at all. So that should be off the table. The question is how. Madam President, the journalist Brooks…
I strongly support the nomination of Chairman Ben Bernanke to his second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. There is little debate that our financial system has been through one of the most tumultuous times since the Great…
I am happy to learn from the Senator from North Dakota he favors my amendment or at least he says it would not cause any injustice to his central mission. My main point is, the regular order does work here. In 1990, 1993, 1997, Congress…
There is no doubt that we have to get our fiscal house in order. That is not an issue before us right now. So let's take that off the table. All Senators agree we have to address our fiscal situation. Second is the question of what is the…
Dr. Laurence Peter, the educator who came up with the Peter Principle, once said: Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the [person] who will get the blame. In a democracy, that is the people's right. In a…
Politicians like Max Baucus
