some time back max baucus under max baucus the ambassador to china and i went down, we didn't tell anybody, we just went down. and for 18 hours discovered the world according to fidel castro. and then also with an ag group trying to establish trade. i want to make sure we go about this in the right way after little history of little to no meaningful engagement with cuba. many of these folks came down met with people and then been informed, yes, you can trade and only find out you can trade with hospitals, schools and what was the other one? i'll think of it in a minute. three very limited situations. then all of a sudden you come up against the state-owned enterprise and that's where it ended. so all of the talk and everything happened and nothing really happened. so do you envision the reestablishment of diplomatic relations to be helpful to agriculture trade? are there any concerns you have regarding this renewed relationship? the process to establish these ties and the interaction with exports to and agricultural development within cuba, sir? >> i think normalizing relations and opening

i was joined in the senate side by former finance committee chairman max baucus. together senator baucus and i worked with the leaders on the house energy and commerce and ways and means committees to craft legislation that would repeal and replace the s.g.r. with an improved payment system that rewards quality efficiency and innovation. while many critics deemed our efforts a lost cause we introduced our bill in late 2013 and got it reported out of the finance committee on a voice vote. that same legislation formed the basis of the s.g.r. bill that passed overwhelmingly in the house with 392 votes at the end of march. now the bill is before the senate. it is my hope that we will act quickly to pass this bipartisan, bicameral legislation and send it to the president's desk as soon as possible. this s.g.r. bill is historic for a number of reasons. first of all it demonstrates what congress is truly capable of when members work together, and while that type of cooperation used to be commonplace around here, it has in recent years been in short supply. the bill also

that was meant -- led by max baucus in check rashly. they could not do it. just could not do it. we took two republican ideas, the exchange marketplace and created purchasing pools so people did not have to be part of a big organization to get health care coverage and better coverage and we took that idea and incorporated it into law and we took another republican idea, thank you, governor romney. the insurance company said if you do not require people to get coverage, you will end up in a halt and a blind and it is not economically feasible approach. we took those ideas incorporated them into law. one of the ideas behind the exchange is for people whose income is not great, we wanted to be able to purchase through this purchasing pool to maximize their leverage, but for folks whose income taxes low, they get a tax credit. the tax credit phases out at 400% of poverty. it is actually whether the idea was republican or democrat, it is a good idea and the question is how to make it work. one of the ways we make it work, when people call you with questions, you can give them a good a

i want to thank senator max baucus who worked with me from the gipping on this effort here in the snavment senate, now ambassador to china. i also want to thank our colleagues in the house who also worked very hard in crafting this s.g.r. fix. as with any major legislativest there are a umin of staffers both current and former who also deserve our staff -- our thanks. from my own finance committee starvetion i want to thank dan todd kristin welsh katie simion for all of their hard work. i also want to thank my senior team jay chris and mark. on the democratic side of the committee, i want to thank karen fisher david schwartz, matt kazin, juan mashato and colin gold fifth. list want to commend montana kay from the republican leadership office. from the house side, i want it thank charlotte ivansich and wendell premus. we'll also gotten quite a bit of help from c.b.o., i want to thank holly herving. we put this legislation together. for that i'd like to thank jennifer druckman. we couldn't have done it without the help of gong buttress and kelly mall loan on the senate side and jessica cross

as i mentioned yesterday, i was part of this group as was former finance committee chairman max baucus. together senator baucus and i worked with the leaders on the relevant house committees to craft legislation that would repeal and replace the s.g.r. with an improved payment system that rewards quality efficiency and innovation. that legislation which we reported out of the finance committee by voice vote in late-2013, formed the basis of the legislation before us today. and i want to compliment the house for the great work they've done on it bill. i have to give a lot of credit to them. it is my hope that we'll act quickly to pass this bipartisan, bicameral legislation and send it to the president's desk as soon as possible. this legislation demonstrates what congress is truly capable of when members work together. we all talk about the need for more bipartisanship in washington. this bill can be a template for how things should work around here. it also represents a step forward in the effort to reform our nation's entitlement programs. as i mentioned, to go along with the permanen