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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.
The purpose of the provision is to make Medicare a better business partner to providers, a smarter purchaser of services for our taxpayers, and a more customer-friendly organization for our beneficiaries. MARCIA will strengthen and improve…
As virtually every Senator knows, this is not the perfect bill. Each Senator would like to change it a little bit. This Senator, in particular, would like to have had more money, frankly. We have $400 billion over 10 years. If we had a…
I am proud to support Senator Bingaman's legislation to ensure equitable tax treatment for Oldsmobile dealers impacted by General Motors' sudden decision to eliminate the Oldsmobile from its product line. General Motors did agree to…
I just want to inform my colleagues that this is a balanced bill. It has been very difficult to achieve that balance. I fear it is becoming more fragile as the days pass by. I think it would be very unfortunate if this bill fell apart. I…
It goes without saying we live in a very complicated era. That is especially true with prescription drug pricing, health care costs, new technologies, and new health care technologies. You cannot turn on the evening news without seeing a…
I rise to speak about the rural provisions in the Medicare bill. This bill has a lot of provisions to help rural America. I am very proud of these provisions. I also wish to compliment the chairman of the committee, Senator Grassley. Over…
let me begin by praising the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, for his fine leadership and cooperative management of this bill. He has been very good. I know the folks in Iowa know that, but I want everybody…
I rise today to echo the condemnations of the military rulers of Burma that my colleagues have so forcefully offered. Burma should by all rights be a prosperous country. It has over 50 million people, abundant natural resources, and a…
I rise to support the bill offered by my good friend, the senior Senator from Arkansas, Mrs. Lincoln, and my good friend from Maine, Senator Snowe. Their legislation ensures that our military and low- and middle-income parents will receive…
I rise today to thank Mr. Andrew Harig for his hard work on the Senate Finance Committee. Andy was on the staff of the Finance Committee throughout most of the 107th Congress. He was an integral part of the international trade policy team…
I commend the chairman for raising this issue at conference. It is a very serious issue; that is, whether corporations that invert should enjoy the privileges of some of the provisions of the bill about to be passed and soon signed by the…
this amendment is simple. This amendment would reduce the amount by which we are raising the debt limit to $350 billion. That is $634 billion less than the underlying bill. The legislation the House sent to us would raise the debt limit by…
I want to make clear that I have not heard one substantive reason against this, not one. Rather, the argument against this is the House is gone. We all know the House has gone because they do not want to vote on this issue. They planned to…
Today we are discussing legislation to raise the statutory limit on the Federal debt, the ceiling on how much the Treasury Department can borrow. It is a very important matter. The Federal debt is like the family credit card. Sooner or…
As this debate on the budget reconciliation bill comes to a close, I congratulate the chairman of the Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley. He has done a very good job with a very difficult task. For him, the race has not been easy. Even…
earlier today my colleague on the Finance Committee, Chairman Grassley, offered an amendment to S. 1054, the pending tax bill, to improve Medicare funding for rural patients and providers. I supported the amendment, which passed, 86-12…
let me read a quote of American Enterprise Institute, conservative economist, commenting on this amendment: Clearly, this proposal is one of the most patently absurd tax policies ever proposed. That is AEI, Republican economist, commenting…
this is essentially what I call a ``more stimulus now'' amendment. It has two provisions. One, it accelerates the year in which the dividend exclusion is effective. Under the committee bill, the dividend exclusion does not come into effect…
I, too, pledge to work with the Senator from Massachusetts. Last year the Senator from Ohio and myself introduced legislation in the Medicare providers bill to address this very issue. It is called the DSH cliff, essentially. The Medicaid…
the Senator from Michigan raised a very good point. There are provisions in the bill which address corporations that invert--that is, 100 percent invert--in tax shelters in Bermuda or other tax havens. That was shut down in March of this…
this amendment sunsets offsets not in this decade but in the next decade. Many of the provisions in this bill should be permanent; that is, corporate inversion legislation, shelters, provisions that should change the law. That is good…
this is the Military Fairness Act. I am offering it, and it is being cosponsored by Senator McCain. Very simply, this is the amendment that is Ping-Ponging back and forth between the House and Senate. We did pass, at one point, provisions…
The amendment the Senator from North Dakota is offering, that I cosponsor, is a tax cut amendment. Most Members of this body like to cut taxes. That is what this amendment is all about. It is cutting taxes. Second, which group is getting…
there isn't anybody in this body for whom I have higher respect and more affection than the Senator from Iowa. I must say when I listened to his arguments against this amendment, virtually nothing was said that addressed the merits. In…
besides being willing to accept the amendment offered by the Senator from Pennsylvania, I add that there are some portions of this bill which further make the Tax Code more complex. We often do that as we are trying to, on the one hand…
Politicians like Max Baucus
