Baucus Fights for Women’s Health Rights, Says NO to Blunt Amendment
Mr. President, I rise to object to the Blunt Amendment. This extreme amendment would undermine the delicate balance between religious freedom and women’s health. It would be a mistake. It goes too far. This amendment goes far beyond contraception. It would allow any employer to prevent a woman’s access to mammograms, prenatal care or even […]
Baucus Says America Must Keep its Financial Promises
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Promises may fit the friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.” We should be clear about what the debt limit means, and what it doesn’t. Raising the debt limit does not authorize new spending. It does not mean an increase in future spending. It simply means the United States will […]
Baucus Works to Preserve TAA for Firms Program, Good-Paying Jobs
Mr. President, this chamber approved three free trade agreements last week – and did so with overwhelming support. But for many, that support hinged on passage of a robust Trade Adjustment Assistance program, or “TAA.” Last month, the Senate approved TAA. During floor consideration, an amendment similar to the one offered by Senator McCain was […]
Baucus Calls on Senate to Pass Job-Creating Trade Deals
The English poet Thomas Gray once said, “Commerce changes the fate and genius of nations.” The United States has always understood that commerce with foreign nations improves our fate and sharpens our genius. We know that opening the channels of commerce creates new opportunities, generates new ideas and forms new partnerships. We know that engaging […]
Baucus Floor Statement Regarding the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010
Mr. President, about two years ago, our economy was on the brink. So one of the first things that we did, with our new President, was to enact the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We did so to jump-start our economy. We did so to create jobs. In the two years since, our economy created […]
Baucus Hearing Statement Regarding Historical Trends in Income and Federal Revenues
A tax system expresses a society’s values. America’s always changing. That’s one of our strengths. That change also means that, periodically, we need to consider whether our tax system continues to express the values that we want to put first. To consider where we want to our tax system to go, we need to understand […]
Floor Statement of Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) Regarding Repeal of 1099 Reporting Requirements
Mr. President, the Senator from Nebraska and I share a common goal. We both want to repeal some IRS reporting requirements scheduled to take effect in 2012. Each of our two motions would allow consideration of an amendment to prevent the expansion of those IRS reporting rules. Thus each of our two amendments would help […]
Baucus Hearing Statement Regarding New Patient Protections to Strengthen Medicare and Medicaid
Montesquieu said: “All [people] are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. . . . [T]hey recover it only by the protection of the law.” When it comes to health care, the Affordable Care Act gives seniors, patients and health care consumers historic protections in the law. The new law protects seniors by […]
Baucus Floor Statement Regarding Grandfathered Health Care Plans
Mr. President, a weather vane shows when the wind is blowing. And a resolution like this shows when it’s election season. This resolution is a political stunt. It’s an election-season effort to take pot-shots at the new health care reform law. Before the Senate now is a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review […]
Baucus Floor Statement Regarding the Small Business Jobs Bill
Mr. President, Theodore Roosevelt once said: “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Americans prize hard work. We value a day’s pay earned at honest labor, and that is one reason the great recession that started in 2008 has been particularly hard on […]