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.
Third, the amendment will have some unintended, and perhaps dangerous, effects. Not all changes to the operation of the Columbia/Snake river system are made for the purpose of protecting fish and wildlife. Often, there are other reasons…
The eighth rider prohibits changes to the management and operation of any dam in the Columbia River Basin without congressional approval. That would override environmental laws, make it impossible to protect the salmon and other endangered…
The State of Alaska is already evaluating various alternatives and there is provision in the current transportation appropriations bill, that the Senate passed in July, that adds $700,000 for the Corps of Engineers to study rural access…
at some point soon the Senate must either return to the consideration of the Interior appropriations bill or else consider an omnibus bill that includes provisions relating to the appropriations for the Interior Department or, dare I say…
I strongly support S. 1180. But we are no longer considering the Interior appropriations bill, and it is not clear whether we will again. I think the far better approach is to take up S. 1180 as a freestanding bill. After all, that bill…
The only credible argument I have heard against this amendment is it breaks open Freedom to Farm and it might raise worldwide prices because you are raising loan rates. The short answer to that is we are not opening Freedom to Farm. This…
I think many minds on this amendment are already made up. I, just for a couple of minutes, would like to speak to those Senators who have not yet made up their minds. The point very simply is this: There are a good number of farmers and…
In my State, and I know various other Senators in various other States, ran into a problem with the Postal Service. Namely, when the Postal Service wants to properly close, relocate or build a new post office, it has been, frankly, not the…
Simply, Mr. President, this is already in the law. A person may already appeal a decision to close a post office. The Commission then decides whether that is reviewable. We are not changing that. That is in the law today. Any person can…
the second problem with this amendment I would like to mention is that it begs the question of what our current Tax Code is going to be replaced with. I must say there is something to the old adage that the grass is always greener on the…
I must say, however, that this is a very bad amendment. It is a profoundly bad amendment. It is a sound bite amendment. It is a feel good amendment, and if it were passed, I guarantee it would have profound adverse consequences upon our…
last week's deadly violence in the Halls of the United States Capitol touched the conscience of a nation. From coast to coast, Americans gathered to talk about the shootings. The coverage has dominated television, has dominated our…
most people my age have known the heartache of having to watch their parents grow old. It is a sad day in a person's life when they see their father get his first gray hair. Or the day you notice lines in your mother's face where…
Mr. President, we are now embarked on a very significant policy change with respect to sanctions. Over the past several years, it was simple for the U.S. Congress to slap sanctions on an offensive country. We could also give the President…
we are here to debate one of the most significant components of our foreign relations policy, and that is the Department of Defense authorization bill. There is often a great temptation to exploit foreign policy debates for partisan…
I rise today to address the upcoming summit in China and to stress the importance of this visit to U.S.- China relations. Mr. President, as the age old adage says, ``A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.'' We should…
So it, the current program, is roughly $18 billion, the current ISTEA which expired. This bill is $26 billion, roughly; hence, roughly a 43-percent increase. And a State, on average, will receive that 43-percent increase. So, while there…
In July of 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency promulgated final rules that set new National Ambient Air Quality standards for fine particle air pollution, known as PM2.5. The standards require three years of monitoring data to be…
The bill clarifies that it does not affect EPA's authority to provide for state implementation of the agreements and recommendations set forth in the June 1996 Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission Report on a schedule consistent…
I say to my very good friend, the Senator from Oregon, I strongly agree with the Senator. In States that have already made a substantial investment in intelligence transportation tests and deployment projects, nothing in this bill before…
I rise to take a moment to share with the Senate the remarkable accomplishments of some truly "high fliers." All of us in this body travel to schools and encourage tomorrow's leaders to "aim high." Last week, three Montana pole vaulters…
I am concerned that the Senate bill contains a provision, Section 7612(b)(3) that makes it easier for the IRS to gain access to software source code in the event that a taxpayer refuses to provide his own financial data to the IRS. Since…
I have very much appreciated listening to the arguments for this amendment. However, I think it is important for us to step back a little bit and look at this issue a little more broadly. The first point I would make is to remind my…
during the last couple of months, in every household across the country, Americans went through an annual rite. They sat down at the kitchen table, pulled all their financial records together, and figured out what they owed the Government…
Essentially, the amendment offered by the Senator from Tennessee is an amendment to take an employee off the board. That is the point. The real question we have to ask ourselves is: Do we want this restructuring to work or not? We create a…
Politicians like Max Baucus
