SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-MT)
Members
Sen. Baucus became a senator in 1978 when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. Sen. Baucus is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, as well as a member of the committees on Agriculture, Environment and Public Works, and Joint Tax (a non-partisan committee with Members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives).
Sen. Baucus has a varied record when it comes to the most historic tax and spending votes of the past 20 years. He voted against the 1990 budget reconciliation, which raised taxes and established pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) procedures. He voted for President Bill Clinton’s 1993 budget reconciliation, which cut spending and raised taxes, and for the 1997 Balanced Budget agreement, which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would cut the deficit by $127 billion over five years Sen. Baucus was also one of a handful of Democrats who voted for the 2001 tax cuts, which lowered rates for all income-tax payers. He voted against the 2003 tax cuts.
Though he is now a member of the so-called ‘fiscal commission,’ Baucus originally “vehemently” opposed its creation. According to Government Executive magazine, he said the commission would “usurp” the power of elected officials.
Unlike many of his commission colleagues, who publicly say “everything” must be one the table when it comes to tackling the deficit, Sen. Baucus said, according to The Washington Post, “Social Security should be off-limits because it is not the primary source of long-term fiscal imbalance.”
