baucus' speech. lacking in some detail, some specifics that i know some of my colleagues in the press wanted. did it change or shift the debate at all? did it move the needle? >> i was very glad to hear him say several things that he said. one, clearly we're going to need more revenue as we address the long run deficit problem. and he stuck with progressive rates, didn't go for flat tax. he's a cautious man. i'm a more radical -- i'm a centrist but a radical centrist. i would go for a more dramatic tax reform. but i thought he laid out many of the reasons that we need tax reform and laid them out well. >> bob, did you gain any insight from his comments about where the two parties might find areas of consensus or was there just not enough there? i'm sorry. mr. greenstein. >> more than one bob. >> that's true. there really is. >> i was deferring. there were several questions asked by journalists to try to hone in on specifics, and i thought chairman baucus' answers were i want to avoid laying out any s

our first speaker is a westerner like i am, max baucus. max baucus comes from the great state of montana and believe it or not, in his campaigning back home in the west, he has walked the longest distance of that state, he's walked it as part of his campaign. he's never forgotten that you have to get to the small people to talk with them so he has, annually he has a series of events which brings the people to him to talk about the problems and he gets a pretty good idea of how his constituents feel before he goes to work on problems here in the united states congress and as chairman of one of the most powerful united states senate committees, if not the most powerful and he as chairman is a quiet, determined man, and i'm very pleased that he agreed to come and share -- i don't think he's done this before in this crisis, come and share his thoughts as i said awhile ago about the tax piece of the debt puzzle. so with that, let me thank max for coming and once again, introduce him to you so he can address us. max, thank you very much. [ appla

senator max baucus will chair the hearing as it gets under way in a couple of moments. >>> room will come to order. robert kennedy once said, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil. nearly 50 million americans are currently living in poverty. that includes 16 million children. in 2009 more than 31% of working families were in poverty. that's more than 10 million people. our safety net is designed to give those in poverty a fighting chance. temporary assistance for needy families or tochb is one of those bedrocks. tanf gives people access to job training and education, and it helps fight the evil of poverty. today we will look at tanf and the new challenges facing american in poverty. until the 1996 reform law welfare was open ended. but through reform congress gave the system direction. it now focuses on jobs and promotes self-sufficiency, figuratively speaking it aims to teach people to fish. tanf now helps some people by funding child care, transportation and job search support. in 2 0us 5, the deficit reduction act changed the way states managed tanf case loads and countered

senator baucus i think alluded to this, but let's put it front and center. in december 1998, i'm reading from a publication of the energy information administration, the cost of a barrel of oil in cushing, oklahoma, this is west texas intermediate, the spot price f.o.b. was $11.35. in april of this year, which is the last year for which we have data, april of 2012, that number was $103.32, seven times greater. we have had an energy price crisis. you're all familiar with that. everybody here has lived through this. that peaked with the price of june 2008. again, cushing, oklahoma, west texas intermediate, of $133.88. now what is the difference between this experience and our previous experience? these prices have not declined in '73 it was followed by a price collapse, in '79 it was followed by a price collapse, in '81 it was followed by a price collapse. this has not happened. something has changed in the world petroleum markets. these prices are permanently higher. this is the basis for the incentives that are driving the bakken. you can talk all you like a

our first speaker is a westerner like im, max baucus. max baucus comes from the great state of montana, and believe it or not in his campaigning back home in the west he has walked the longest distance of that state and as part of his campaign. he's never forgotten that you have to get to the us small people to talk with them. so he brings the people to him to talk about the problems and he gets pretty good ideas of how his constituents feel before he goes to work on problems here in the united states congress and as the chairman of one of the most powerful united states senate committees if not the most powerful and he as the chairman is a quiet determined man and i'm very proud pleased he agreed to come and share a don't think that he's done it in this crisis to come and share his thoughts as as a while ago. so with that, let me thank max for coming and once again introduce him to use so he can address us. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much, pete. it's an honor to be here first, the colleagues of mine. working to so

max baucus.ax comes from the great state of montana, and believe it or not, in his campaigning in the west, he has walked the longest distance of that state. he he's walked it as part of his campaign. he has never forgotten. you have to get to the small people and talk with him. anyway he has a series of events which brings the people to him to talk about the problems, and he gives a pretty good idea of how his constituents feel before he goes to work on problems here in the united states congress, and is chairman of one of the most powerful united states senate committees, if not the most powerful. he is a chairman is a quiet, determined man read i am very pleased that he agreed to come and share. i don't think he has done this before. in this crisis, he has not come to share his thoughts, as i said a while ago, about the tax of the debt puzzle. with that, let me thank max for coming, and once again introduce them to use if you can address this. max, thank you very much. [applause] [applause] >>

out there that are actually concerned about the size of banks they say banks are too big spencer baucus is not one of them so this is a problem that republicans need to deal with because the realities are exactly what you said that famously ronald reagan in eighty two stopped in for some of the sherman antitrust act which had been on the books since one thousand nine hundred one and thus we had this mergers and acquisition frenzy and now we've got all these big banks are youth are you saying we should roll back reagan's policies because nobody knows what i'm saying is look great economy is change over time and policies need to change with that and so i can't apply what reagan did in one thousand and two to what's happening thirty years later in two thousand and twelve but the point is is that conservatives or republicans need to actually think about real banking regular regulation reform and think about whether or not we actually want big banks that i don't think conservatives who care about you know stable money and strong you know lending industry want to have these big banks that are

. >> thank you, i want to thank chairman baucus and ranking member hatch and members of the committee for inviting me here and allowing me to join ron haskins and kay brown on this panel. i'm a social anthropologist and i work on family in poverty and the institutions that serve them. today, i don't want this to be a contest, ron, i'm going to try to high light six themes about families and illustrate them with examples representative of the data i've worked with. theme number one, before welfare eligible and both welfare eligible and welfare using populations are varied. researchers in washington state found five sub groups ranging from quick levers who left tanf within a year and did not return to stayers who continued on tanf with barely a break. and these groups have fairly different needs. second, both welfare support and the income from low wage labor leave families struggling. families cannot sustain themselves on welfare alone or on low wage work alone. and those relying on these low incomes can experience what i call a cascade effect. when a relatively small problem triggers

thanks, chairman baucus, ranking member hatch, members of the committee. it's an honor and privilege for me to be here today. i'll be speaking on my own behalf and not as representative of continental resources or not here on behalf of the romney campaign for which i serve as an energy adviser. it's been 20 years since i was here speaking before this committee. senator david borne at that time was co-chairing the committee, i believe, and spoke to him about a couple things that were mostly unknown, totally unconventional at the time. one of them was horizontal drilling and the other was the aspect of drilling into the source rocks themselves, the shales, that we might produce a vast amount of natural gas, and talking about a temporary trigger, tax trigger, to advance that theory. well, that wasn't given. we did get a tax trigger but over the last 20 years, we've seen those technologies develop and thank god we've come a long way since then. continental is the top ten petroleum liquids producer, where 75% of all of last year's production, we focused on oil.

. >> chairman baucus -- >> do you want to bring your microphone, please, a little closer. >> how's that? >> that's great. thank you. >> chairman baucus, ranking member hatch and members of the committee, i'm pleased to be here today to discuss our work on the role of tanf in helping poor families. over the past 15 years, federal and state spending for tanf has totaled about $406 billion representing a significant investment in efforts to promote self-sufficiency and combat poverty. my remarks based on previously published gao reports will focus on the performance of tanf as a safety net, as a welfare-to-work program and a funding source for other services. first on tanf as a safety net. the story of tanf's early years is well known. the strong economy combined with the new focus on work contributed to a decline in the rolls of more than 50%. many former welfare recipients increased their income through employment. however, much of the caseload decline resulted from fewer eligible families participating in the program. perhaps in response to tanf's new rules such as work requirements and

let's start with senator baucus's speech. lacking in detail sign of some of my colleagues in the press wanted. did it move any of you? >> i was very glad to hear him say several things that he said. one, clearly we need more revenue as we address the long room -- run deficit problem. he stuck with progressive rates. he is a cautious man. i'm a more radical -- and a centrist, but i'm a radical centrist. i would go for a more dramatic tax reform. but i thought he laid out many of the reasons that we need tax reform. and he laid the now well. >> did you get any insight on with the two parties might find areas of consensus? i'm sorry -- >> [unintelligible] >> i was referring to -- there were several questions asked by journalists to try to hone in on specifics, and i thought chairman baucus's answers were i want to avoid laying out any specific strategy of round which there would be partisan division before the election. i thought there was a consistent theme there that there needs to be behind the scenes discussions now to lay o

baucus said it thought the suspect fired at him and that's when he fired buck. according to the officer there is no shots fired from the officer. >>> a bit of fired he the him at least once. he is selling the hospital recovering. no one else was hurt. the that lobbies personally will act. the security question that was packed. >>> and the wood to punched a committee delivered right but, coming up. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's one thing... to have created an icon and quite another to have done it generation after generation. to the long line of legendary mercedes-benz sl roadsters... ♪ >>> the tell a bad is claiming responsibility for a suicide attack in afghanistan that left 25 people injured. nato says its raid killed several insurgence. but disputes claims that women and children were also killed in that attack. marine lance corporal joshua was just 19 when he died last november. people like this streets to pay tribute for the man. >>> mitt romney is personal e- mail account had been packed. will the hacker got into that account by guessing their answer to the se

chairman baucus, ranking member frank and members of the committee, i'm appearing today to discuss recent losses in a portfolio held by jpmorgan ch e chase -- >> could we get him to pull the mike closer. >> reporter: chief investment office. we are still reviewing the facts and i will explain everything i can to the extent possible. the six lines of business provide array of services. these include deposit accounts, loans, credit cards, mortgages, capital market advice, mutual funds and other investments. let me start by explaining what the chief investment offi

senator baucus alluded to this. in december 1998, a reading from a publication of the energy information administration, the cost of a barrel of oil in cushing, oklahoma, this is west texas intermediate, the price was $11.35. in april this year, which is the last year for which we have data, april of 2012, that number was $103.32. seven times greater. we have an energy crisis, we are all familiar with that. everyone here has lived through it. with the price of june 2008, again, cushing, oklahoma, west texas intermediate, $138.88. what is the difference between this experience in her previous experience? these prices have not declined. in 1973, it was followed by price collapse. in 1979 and 1980, it was followed by a price collapse. something has changed in the petroleum markets. these prices are permanently higher. this is the basis for the incentives that are driving the market. you can talk all you like about tax incentives. and i'm not against treating these symmetrically with every other form of production. i'm

max baucus outlined his broad views on tax reform. marker for senate democrats as washington edges closer to the fiscal cliff at the end of the year on at least one point he echoed president obama. >> deficits and debt are not just a spending problem. revenues share of gross domestic product over the past few years are the lowest they have been since world war ii. we simply don't raise enough revenue. he did not get into details or offer any proposals. did he suggest congress not tackle this before the election so that members don't lock themselves into positions. he said they should wait until the expected lame duck session after november 6th to consider concrete steps. shepard? >> shepard: peter, you know, we talk about hard times. sort of in the aggregate often. rarely about american families. we knew they had been hit hard. now we have a dollar amount on that. >> that's right. shep. we knew the great recession hit families hard but now a new report from the federal reserve shotion us how hard from 2007 to 2010. family's medium net

she was arrested in a very raucous baucus caucus.it was senator max baucus of montana who as the legislation was being considered, when the panels were being held and no single payer representative was there, she stood up in that hearing room and was taken out by security. dr. margaret flowers, you're on the steps of the supreme court today. as david cole describes with the legislation is, where do you come down? >> it is interesting to hear david cole is these progressive talking points defending the law proved too much of what is going on is about politics and not health policies. i was with a group who filed a and it is brief asking them to find the individual mandate unconstitutional. we do not believe it is right for people to have to be forced to purchase the product, especially when it is defective. even with insurance, they still go bankrupt. private insurance is a problem. we do now to further privatize our health care. when the medicare for all. >> and what about the decision if they strike down, for example, the individual

chairman baucus, ranking member frank and members of the committee. i'm preparing to discuss recent losses in a portfolio held by j.p. morgan chase -- mr. chairman, can we get him to pull the mike closer. >> chief investment losses. these losses have generated curveball attention. and while reviewing the facts i will do everything i can to the extent possible. j.p. morgan chase's six lines of business and provide a financial array of small and large businesses, governments and not for profits. >> these include deposit accounts and loans, credit cards, and mortgages and capital market's advice and mutual funds and other investments. let me start by explaining what the chief investment office does. like many banks, we have more deposits than loans. at quarter end, we held approximately $1.1 trillion in deposits and 700 billion in loans. cio along with the treasury unit invests excess cash that includes treasurys, agencies and mortgage-backed securities and corporate debt and other domestic and overseas assets. it also serves as an important vehicle for

senate finance committee chairman max baucus has laid groundwork for a tax reform plan with a goal to raise more revenue to help lower the federal deficit. this is two hours. >> everybody come to order. the writer hunter thompson once wrote, anything worth doing is worth doing right. i couldn't agree more. our country is in a pivotal moment in energy policy. it's important that we do it right. there have never been so many worthy energy options. they're worth doing and they're worth doing right. thankfully, we're already making progress to diversify in our energy portfolio. we have an opportunity through tax reform to drive that progress further. when i first ran for congress, america was reeling from an oil embargo. gas prices had doubled. one point in early 1974, 20% of american gas stations had no fuel at all. it's clear that we can never again allow america to become so dependent on a single source of energy. since then, we have boosted a more diverse, efficient, and productive energy policy. advances in technology mean more domestic oil and natural gas are available than ever bef

chairman baucus, ranking member frank and members of the committee, i'm appearing today to discuss recent losses in a portfolio held by jpmorgan ch e chase -- >> could we get him to pull the mike closer. >> reporter: chief investment office. we are still reviewing the facts and i will explain everything i can to the extent possible. the six lines of business provide array of services. these include deposit accounts, loans, credit cards, mortgages, capital market advice, mutual funds and other investments. let me start by explaining what the chief investment office does. like many banks, we have more deposits than loans. at quarter end, we held approximately 1.1 trillion in deposits and 700 billion in loans. cio along with the treasury unit invest excess cash in a portfolio that includes treasuries, agencies, mortgage backed securities, high quality securities, corporate debt and other domestic and overseas assets. it also serves as an important vehicle for managing assets and liabilities of the consolidated company. in short, the bulk of ceo's responsibility is to manage $350 billion port

. >> senate finance committee chair max baucus is leading the nation's tax code. he't

one, tax policy does make a difference, in partial response to your question and senator baucus' question, if you no longer allowed or intend drilling costs to be expensed, you would shut down the shell revolution, the oil revolution that's happening in the bachen and every major play. i'm on the board with a couple of companies. that is a big deal. if you don't allow people to expense, and they've had expensing -- independents have had it, frankly, since 1913 or something. >> well, like 18 dry holes in bachen. >> absolutely. senator hatch, in response to your question on overall tax policy, absolutely, getting a lower rate, more competitive rate, competitive ily internationally, this committee hasn't done a lot on the international tax front. we've always talked about it, but it's really about time. and i think a greater consensus in moving towards the territorial system makes sense. we are becoming a smaller world in international competition, and frankly, we shouldn't be giving advantages to our international competitors over our u.s.-based companies. we want more u.s.-based companies

a very senior committee on the agriculture committee that a lot of high up people, like even max baucus is going to be involved. you'll see the pushback will probably call from people like sax b. chambliss. and you'll see an amendment around food stamps. i think that's probably the most likely active people you'll see. >> what in particular is it about food stamps that will get their attention in the debate on this bill? >> well, one of the things that i think is often forgotten about the farm bill is that it really is a good bill. it covers more than just people growing fruits and vegetables and commodity crops, it covers the snap program. it cuts about $4 billion from that program. there are cuts all over the board, but there's about $4 billion in cuts to s.n.a.p. the majority of the cuts are going to come by administrative costs and waste fraud abuse. but it is being used more and more during the reception, food stamps are. and some say any cut to the program could be a big loss for people at the moment. >> we're reading in the "national journal" and elsewhere that this debate is goi

baucus: i have an amendment at the desk. move to strike -- the chair: the chair will first dispose of the flake amendment. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from arizona. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mr. flake: i ask for the yeas and nays. the chair: the gentleman asks for a recorded vote. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from arizona will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? mr. baucus: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 5, printed in the congressional record, offered by mr. baucus of alabama. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? mr. diaz-balart: i reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment. the chair: point of order is reserved. mr. bachus: i'm here to ask for the coop

and two of the principles that we've touched on today, i think, are going to be key, as chairman baucus and senator hatch lead us now into tax reform, and one of them is that we can't have a double standard on tax breaks. we can't have a double standard on energy breaks, and today the oil and gas production side gets a permanent tax break while renewable energy gets a temporary tax break, and often those expire. so we're going to have to get rid of the double standard. the second issue that we've sort of touched on a little bit this morning is the idea that we ought to, quote, get rid of everything, but when you say get rid of everything, it sort of has an asterisk after it because then we say intangible drilling costs ought to be able to go forward as well. so, let me ask you four, because you've given us thoughtful and valuable testimony, what would a level playing field on the energy side look like so we can advance the cause of energy independence but also move us away from the double standard and this question of let's get rid of everything but not put an asterisk by it, just go do

in mainland europe and especially spain get worse as the eurozone author and commentator professor baucus says it's the beginning of a chain reaction. well now it looks like that spain with needs bail out and once this has happened probably italy will need one and then we have suppression of greece if greece actually exits the euro this. illegal and minister to the president so markets investors within that this could leave and hold most of the press and precedents for countries like finland and germany to say well we may actually if you don't get your hours this in more so than they would have a more credible threat. to push other countries to do the necessary. so it's a very open how this all ends but i fear that in in the end these. two political pressure and start running the printing press. what goes around comes around as europe desperate in six a financial stimulus it may feel another blow this time coming from iran the country's oil minister has warned that the oil sanctions with a tough burden for the box economy that's ahead of a major international talks over iran's nuclear act

recently, senate finance committee chairman max baucus said reforming the tax code could raise revenue and reduce the federal deficit. he emphasized that the tax code is an important driver of energy policy. because of the ongoing presidential campaign, he suggested that tax reform will have to wait until after the november presidential elections. this is about two hours. >>> we come to order. the writer hunter thompson once wrote, anything worth doing is worth doing right. i couldn't agree more. our country is at a pivotal moment in energy policy. it's important redo it -- we do it right. there have never been so many important energy options. they're worth doing and worth doing right. thankfully, we're making progress, diversifying our energy portfolio and we have an opportunity through tax reform to driver that progress further. when i first ran for congress, america was reeling from an oil embargo. gas prices had doubled and at one point in 1974 20% of gas stations had no fuel at all. it's clear we could never again allow america to be so dependent on a single source of energy. sin

and since chairman baucus has given us a chance to kind of be around the kitchen table to kick these ideas around. >> that's great. >> and maybe an hour of social networking and sense of community which is something we're pursuing. >> i would like to focus a little more on patient responsibility. >> yes. >> one of the things -- >> go ahead. patient responsibility. how -- it's a big issue, huge. and your thoughts. how do we encourage it? you talk about probing the internal psychic of people. that's kind of scary. >> and we've talked about -- >> how do we get it so we encourage more responsibility? >> and part of it might be some sort of social pressure or social awareness but taking advantage of new approaches in behavioral health and behavioral psychology and behavioral economics to induce the sort of behavior that we're interested in. but the simple-minded notion that i as a doctor tell you what to do and go farther and say you can do it for free, and we need to invoke other considerations. >> i would agree with that. and add to one thought here. it starts with incentives, but it ca

baucus: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: i ask unanimous consent that two detailees from my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the debate on s. 3240, the agriculture and farm bill act of 2012. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: abraham lincoln was no stranger to agriculture. he spent most of his early years on farms. many years later he signed into law legislation that created the department of agriculture. which recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. president lincoln understood american agriculture. he said the man who produces a good full crop will scarcely let any part of it go to waste. he will keep up enclosure about it and allow neither manor beast to trespass upon it. he will gather it in due season and store it in perfect security. thus, he labors with satisfaction and saves himself the whole fruit of his labor. end quot

he now remarks by senate finance committee chairman max baucus followed by a panel discussion with former white house budget director alice rivland, and bill thomas. live coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. monday, espn president john skipper on the network's expansion to different media platforms. john king on the ways technology has changed cnn and phil meeks and the small business focus. monday night on c-span2. robert menendez says he is outraged that allen gross wa remains in cuba. he is currently serving a 15- year sentence. the portion of the hearing is about 50 minutes. >> good morning. the hearing on the western hemisphere will come to order. our apologies to the secretary and other of the witnesses. we had a vote on the floor. i just came from that. welcome to our hearing. this is a statement of what we must do for the people of cuba and how we can get there. i want to thank our panelists for coming today. i look forward to hearing their analysis and ideas on how we move down the path to freedom. i want to acknowledge the wife of allen gross, judy gross, who is wit

. >> senator baucus, i want to go back to a point i made earlier. we're not training physicians today to enter into a health care delivery system. we're training them to be medical rescuers. we're training high-tech, giving them lots of tools, and that's where the money, and that's where the glamour is. it's a real problem. so medical schools are not doing what is needed today. but i -- you know, so is a lot of the system. i'm not going to demonize them. i think if we start setting this out there and challenging them, i think they can move in this direction. but they're not there now. they're training medical rescue. >> this tension between specialists and primary care docs. it's my understanding that a lot of the medicare reimbursement schedules is contracted out like to ama and weighted towards specialists to the disadvantage of primary care physicians. i don't know if that description is accurate. but just your thoughts on how we can deal with this difference in reimbursement between special -- i don't want to take anything away from the speciali

representative spencer baucus in alabama republican objected to increasing funding for the i.m.f. by reciting a list of perks given to the funds employees we are asking the u.s. taxpayer in this funding requests to reimburse the employees of the i.m.f. for income taxes for private school costs for tuition and not only that but for salaries higher than those paid by the u.s. government so she's asking us u.s. taxpayers to pay for her children's school and her health care and all her other perks to social welfare for christie look our. financial rapist now. the predecessor illegibly was a rapist in new york we don't he got off in more ways than one but the institution itself the i.m.f. undoubtedly is a financial ripest institution and she represents the exact same thing you have again where the theme is of course we need a b.m.p. perry flag not just the queen's flag we need a flag for j.p. morgan we need a flag from bank perry bob all these people were going to celebrate the jubilee the diamond jubilee of j.p. morgan and she's this an elected official who's able to go there and tell

absolutely still those connections so the chairman of the house financial services committee spencer baucus j.p. morgan and its employees and our it's our his law largest contributor yes the vice chair not as much so a little variation there but overwhelmingly there are still massive connections of one hundred sixty eight thousand dollars in the two thousand and twelve election cycle came from j.p. morgan to pass through pacs and employees to this committee to in-house lobbyist with j.p. morgan were either on this committee or were an aide to a congressman on this committee three that are outside lobbying outside lobbyists lobbying for j.p. morgan were former staffers related to this committee and as jack a verb. if the super lobbyist who i've interviewed has said it's those staffers that are the good ones when it comes to the revolving door and being the good lobbyist once they've left those were the ones that get to stand the spotlight a little more away with it so let's move on to europe and the doom and gloom we have one week left to save the entire euro zone statement from mario monti

, the michigan republican is reaching across lines to come up with a bipartisan solution with max baucus now with congressman camp. thank you for joining us. when you say stop the tax hikes, what you don't want is the elimination of loopholes without tax reductions as well, right? if you just eliminate loopholes, which would be a good thing. >> especially john mccain, it becomes a tax hike unless there are cuts elsewhere. >> the problem we have is the expiration of all of the tax policy at the end of the year. that would be a $4 trillion tax hike. that's capital gains, dividends, i want to make sure we don't have that tax increase in an already weak economy, 40 months of unemployment over 8%. so what i'm suggesting is comprehensive and mind mental tax reform. to simplify our code, make it possible for our u.s. companies doing business around the world to be able to bring back those profits without paying a double spent, and we have the highest corporate tax rate of the world, so we need reforms on the corporate side and on the individual side because families are struggling. we can grow

baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: george washington once said, the willingness of future generations to serve in our military will be directly dependent upon how we have treated those we have served in the past. tomorrow. 95 world war ii veterans will fly from montana to washington to see their memorial with their own eyes for the first time. this trip is made possible by the big sky honor flight progr program. their mission is to recognize american veterans by flying them to washington, d.c., to see their memorial at no cost. these veterans and the volunteers who help sends them here -- send them here say a lot about what helps make the united states of america the greatest country on earth. who are these veterans? their average age is 90. they hail from all parts of our state, from plentywood to superior, from miles city to libby, and many places inbetween. and each veteran has a s

i want to thank my dear colleagues, jay rockefeller, max baucus, tim johnson. no way could i have done it without them. and i also want to pay tribute to mary landrieu, who is on the floor today. mary landrieu, senator landrieu and her state, they've gone through so many traumas, so ma many, with hurricanes and all the attendant problems, and the b.p. oil spill, which put such terrible damage -- which meant so much terrible damage to her state and the other gulf states, environmental damage, commercial damage, broke hearts, broke spirits. but let me tell you, you never break mary landrieu's spirit. she teamed up with her colleague here, senator vitter, and they wrote the restore act. and then she went to all the other colleagues in the gulf coast and said, you've got to help me with this and they put together a great package. and what it really means without going into the details -- she will agree into the details -- is when the court decision comes down and the funds come to the federal government for all the violations of law that took place with the b.p. sp

baucus did further and ran defense from him coming out of the hearing room, blocking him from reporters trying to get a shot at him. some of the democrats continue to press him on things like the size of the loss and risk management, including representative carolyn maloney. listen how she pressed him how changes in risk measures s as chief investment officer may have caused these greater loss. >> were the risk limit rules raised while the loss making position was on the books? >> no, they sometimes limit triggers and as you prefer the focus in details, some things you were told about when the limits were hit, they did that whey were supposed to do. >> did they raise them? >> they do get raised sometimes, yes. >> why? why were they raised again? >> i don't know if they were raised. sometimes they do get raised. >> so you don't know whether they got raised or not? >> they might have been. i don't recall it. >> other than that, pretty much what dimon said the last time. apologized for the loss and to lawmakers for taking up their time. he said their time and his would be better spent focu

here to introduce senator baucus is senator domenici, with the policy center. [applause] >> i knew it would take a house member to recognize that. [laughter] i do not know if he would applaud forepeak or not. there is no reason why he should not. i want to sit for a long time now, we have been talking about our national debt. it has not been getting any better. there are some cynics around you do not think it is very serious. we have had this problem before, do not worry. i am not one of those. i do not think we have had this problem before. it was regardless of what we had to spend, because we had to win. it took us three or four years to bring it back in balance. nobody seems to have that goal right now to see that that is done, but in trying to educate the public as best we can, with a president who does not seem to want to educate the public on this issue, we try hard, but we are making the point, and many others are making the point, that the debt is too big, and it may be in some profound way affecting our life, now and in the future. in the promoting of

baucus: mr. president, i ask that further proceedings under the quoirk be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without t objection, the senator is recognized. mr. baucus: i ask that herrick fox and the benjamin thomas be granted floor privileges for remainder of the debate on s. 3240, the agriculture reform, food, and jobs act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: i rise in strong opposition to multiple amendments to the farm bill that would undermine support for the american sugar producers and the american jobs they create. these amendments would pull the rug out from underneath sugar beet producers in my home state of montana. it would leave farmers and other sugar industry workers from montana and across the country vulnerable to job loss. in these tough economic times, this is a step backwards in job creation. that's a step we can't afford to take. montana is the fifth-largest sugar beet producing state in the nation. in 2010, our cash receipts totaled more than $66 million, and those dollars mean good-paying american jobs. that's why the farm bill

the chairmen, senator max baucus. >> alright. it is on. ok. thomas edison once said, to have a great idea, have a lot of them. [laughter] today we hauled our second round table on medicare physician payments. the payment system medicare currently uses is broken. there are a lot of ideas about how to fix it. we know that th-- this causes seniors to fear losing access to their doctors and threatens physicians with payment cuts year after year. we need to look at the underlying fee-for-service system the medicare system uses to pay physicians. fee-for-service rewards physicians who do more tests and procedures even if those services are necessary. it does not encourage physicians to coordinate patient care to save money and improve results. we need an efficient system that rewards physicians for providing high-quality, high value care. today, we hear from five organizations that have developed innovative physician payment systems. these organizations are changing how they pay physicians to create incentives that will improve patient care. we are