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.
I rise today in very firm opposition to the cloture motion on S. 4, the so-called Family Friendly Workplace Act... Comptime would let working parents balance the needs of their families with the demands of their jobs. I believe it is only…
The U.S. mutual fund industry has become a dominant force in developing, marketing, and managing assets for American investors. Since 1990, assets under management by U.S. mutual funds have grown from $1 trillion to about $3.5 trillion…
We heard today from both the chairman and the ranking member of the Budget Committee that we need to address this problem; the problem that there is a deficiency in highway-mass transit-infrastructure spending that must be dealt with at…
We all deeply appreciate the amount of work the Senator from New Mexico has made to try to put this together. It is an almost impossible task. He made an interesting statement, though, that I would just like to follow up on a little bit…
But again I ask you, at what time, at what point would we begin to find the additional dollars that we all know we need for transportation?
The public expects some essential services from the Government. Social security payments, highway funding, national defense, a safety net in bad times, clean air and water, the National Park System, and so on. These are important to the…
As a newly inducted member of the downtown Optimist Club of Great Falls, MT, I take great pride in telling my colleagues about the new Optimist International Child Safety Awareness Program. In recent months, there have been numerous…
The Senate now has before it the conference report to accompany S. 640, the Water Resources Development Act of 1996. I would like to compliment the conferees on the fine work they have done in bringing this conference report to the Senate…
The U.S. merchant marine is facing an uncertain future. The U.S. commercial fleet is falling behind which diminishes its power to protect the United States' interests abroad and at home. This is why I strongly support the Maritime Security…
I know the distinguished chairman of the committee will join with me in also thanking Administrator Browner; Bob Perciasepe, Assistant Administrator; and Cynthia Dougherty, and a former administration official who worked very hard on this…
In the past 2 years, the House of Representatives has made some good decisions, but I must say they have also made some rather questionable ones that is, from the two Government shutdowns not too long ago to the attempted cuts in school…
This is an accommodation to allow us to proceed with the bill. I think it meets the objective of the Senator from Texas, and as to another look at the degree to which there is an accounting clerical error, it is also significant. It is my…
The allocation made to States is determined by the receipts received 2 years earlier. So 1994 determines 1996, and the amount in the trust fund in 1995 determines 1997.
Very clearly, the Department of Treasury admits the error, a $1.590 billion miscalculation. To review this, so that Senators understand how this procedure works, by law, there is a 2-year time lag, which means that because a mistake was…
The Senator from Texas--by the way, one of the biggest beneficiaries of this bureaucratic snafu, his State, gets more dollars as a result of this bureaucratic snafu than almost any other State.
This is a very simple technical correction amendment. Very simply, it corrects a mistake that the Department of the Treasury made. The administration tells us, incredibly, they need legislative authority to correct the mistake. This…
Essentially following up, I thank the managers for the amendment. There was a natural catastrophe in the State of Montana due to abnormal weather. This amendment helps that situation. I thank the Senators.
When I came to the Senate a few years back, one of the first bills I introduced was the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, to protect taxpayers in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service. At that time I noted: Oliver Wendell Holmes reasoned…
It is with great sadness and regret that I rise today in support of S. 1899, a bill to name the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness for Mollie Beattie, the former Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As most of you now…
I am pleased that the intent of this language is for the cleanup to proceed according to the schedule in the deed or other agreement proposed to govern the transfer. But I am unclear who would enforce the schedule and I would hope this is…
Second, I understand that the amendment would allow transfers of Federal facilities to occur before remedial action is in place, provided that the transfer contains several assurances. These assurances would, among other things, assure…
Like so many Americans, I have watched with horror and anger the news accounts of the senseless act of violence in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia which has claimed the lives of 19 of our Nation's best and brightest young men and women and shattered…
With some bemusement, I listen to my good friend from Mississippi. When a vacancy occurred in Montana for a Federal district court judge, I saw this as an opportunity to find the best person in the State of Montana for this position. This…
The Sense of the Senate amendment of my colleague from Arizona notes that the current tax system is overly complex and burdensome and that action must be taken to produce a tax system that is fairer, flatter and simpler. I couldn't agree…
Since this is indeed the case, I wonder why our friends on the Republican side were not willing to highlight their proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic Refuge as the leading assumption in their report, given the fact that it accounts…
Politicians like Max Baucus
