Max Baucus

I rise to congratulate Sam Haddon and United States Magistrate Judge Richard Cebull, whom the Senate today confirmed to serve as Montana's U.S. District Court judges. These confirmations are of great importance to my State of Montana…

last year, Mr. Daschle and I fought hard against efforts to halt the progress of the new Missouri River Master Manual. As my distinguished colleague from South Dakota pointed out both last year and this year, the Missouri River is a river…

with deep reluctance, I oppose my good friend from South Carolina. I must say that I compliment him because it was earlier that he suggested to me the stimulus to get the economy going. He was foresightful of that fact, and because of that…

this is a Patients' Bill of Rights bill. This is not a defense bill. This is not a foreign aid bill. This is not an agriculture bill. This is not a tax bill. This is the Patients' Bill of Rights bill. The amendment offered by my good…

the President could have included a permanent extension of the R&D tax credit in his proposed tax legislation. The Senate was then controlled by the Republican Party, and it certainly could have put in the R&D tax credit, and it probably…

That is absolutely true. There are many Senators who wanted to offer tax provisions to this bill but deferred, recognizing this is not the time and place. It is Ecclesiastes, Mr. President: Essentially there is a time and place for…

If you read it, it makes clear that this is a sense-of-the-Senate tax provision. It says sense of the Senate, and the Patients' Bill of Rights should remove the restrictions on the private sector medical savings account demonstration…

I am proud to cosponsor amendment No. 834 with Senator Snowe and my other colleagues. It addresses an issue important to all of us here--protecting employers from undue liability. This amendment clarifies any confusion about who is…

I oppose the pending amendment for several reasons. One, the bill before us is a Patients' Bill of Rights; it is not a tax bill. We have already passed a tax bill. It was a big one, $1.35 trillion, just a short while ago. There could be an…

I rise today to shift the direction of the education debate for a moment. For the past few weeks, we have been debating now best to engage the Federal Government in ways to improve our K-12 schools. There has been a lot of constructive…

The British statesman Benjamin Disraeli said that, ``in politics, a week is a long time.'' The past week or so is a good example. On the tax bill, we have gone from a handshake deal, through a day-long markup in the Finance Committee…

I am glad to cosponsor this bill from my colleagues Senators Graham and Hutchison. It's an important matter for those of us who represent less prosperous States. I have worked hard to promote economic development in Montana. It is crucial…

I rise to send three separate bills to the desk, S. 935, S. 943, and S. 944. The bills I am introducing provide authority to negotiate bilateral free trade agreements with three important trading partners: New Zealand, Australia, and the…

I thank all Senators for their patience and for their goodwill. This has not been easy. This has been a debate that has been conducted under difficult circumstances. I thank Senators. I commend them. Some were justifiably frustrated, as I…

I rise to make a commitment regarding the High Speed Rail Investment Act. I support passenger rail in the United States and I support Amtrak. The State of Montana relies on Amtrak in the north and hopes to secure passenger rail in the…

I also hope our effort will give us an opportunity to address the problem of structured settlements, which are also funding mechanisms for the disabled. As the chairman knows, I have been trying to fix the structured settlement problem for…

last night, I spoke by phone to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian shortly after he arrived in New York on a so-called ``transit stop'' on his way to Latin America. I told him how pleased I was that he was able to make this visit and that I…

very briefly, I voted to lock in more money for education when we were on the budget resolution, by voting for the Harkin amendment. I wish that amendment would have passed, but unfortunately it didn't. As the Senator well knows, the place…

I cannot support his amendment, certainly not at this time. I agree with him that this tax bill is too big. In fact, I argued to the President that he ought to propose a much smaller bill for the first 5 years and then, if the budget…

I urge my friend, if he wants to continue speaking on the amendment, to do so. I wish I could help the Senator by dredging up opposition to this amendment, but I cannot find any.

I cannot answer that kind of hypothetical because there is no way of knowing what else might be in that bill the President may not like, just as there's no way of knowing whether President Clinton would have vetoed a capital gains…

I appreciate the arguments of my good friend from New Hampshire. Clearly, as capital gains taxes affect the transfer of capital, that is of property, they can affect the degree to which this economy prospers. There is no doubt that capital…

I will again outline why I must respectfully oppose the amendment. One, this is not part of the President's package, and we have resisted including provisions in this bill that are not part of the President's agenda except in very limited…

I speak in opposition to the pending amendment as it is based upon uncertainty, the uncertainty layered on top of the uncertainty is whether the trigger will be pulled. We cannot legislate certainty. We can only exercise good judgment. We…

I start by expressing my respect for Senators, especially on the Democratic side, who made arguments against the bill and have proposed amendments to it. As the chairman of the committee and I have both said, this bill is a compromise. It…