Max Baucus

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, my understanding is there are pending votes that require unanimous consent to be set aside. I make that request so that the next Landrieu amendment can be in order.

Mr. BAUCUS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 621 Withdrawn

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the votes on the various amendments next up be temporarily laid aside so we can proceed to the Landrieu amendment No. 621.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I, too, have spoken with the Senator and understand her concerns and will do my utmost to help resolve the issue.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the votes on the earlier amendments be temporarily laid aside so we can now proceed to amendment No. 557 by the Senator from New York.

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we now proceed to the Edwards amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I, too, pledge to work with the Senator from Massachusetts. Last year the Senator from Ohio and myself introduced legislation in the Medicare providers bill to address this very issue. It is called the DSH cliff, essentially. The Medicaid payments are scheduled to go off a cliff--that is, dramatically lowered--and we had extended the level of payments for a couple years last year to avoid the cliff, the point being that we are very cognizant of the problem facing the large public hospitals, particularly in urban areas that serve a disproportionate number of low-income people. We will certainly work very hard to deal with this when we take up the Medicare legislation in the next couple of months.

Mr. BAUCUS. I ask unanimous consent the pending amendment be set aside to consider the Dayton amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask consent that the pending amendments be set aside so we can consider the Rockefeller amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I have two housekeeping matters that have to be cleared up. Amendments Nos. 593 and 612 Withdrawn Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending McCain and Burns amendments be withdrawn.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I think the clerk should read the entire amendment. That is a pretty hefty amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, as we await the scoring for the Nickles amendment, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Maryland be recognized for the purpose of offering her amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I object.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BAUCUS. I ask unanimous consent that the next amendment be that from Senator Sessions.

Mr. BAUCUS. On behalf of the Senator from Minnesota, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act, I move to waive the applicable sections of that act, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the next amendment in order be that offered by the Senator from Minnesota, Mr. Dayton.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 569

Mr. BAUCUS. Again, this is the amendment I earlier referred to, and I urge all Senators to vote for it.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, obviously this is a good amendment. Also, when I finish speaking, I will offer an amendment in the second degree, which has been cleared on the other side, essentially to bring the criminal provisions in the Tax Code up to date with the Sarbanes-Oxley criminal provisions. The Sarbanes-Oxley bill did not address the criminal tax provisions because that was not a tax bill. We do address it here. I urge adoption, by voice vote, actually, of both amendments. I yield back the remainder of my time. Amendment No. 624 To Amendment No. 555 Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to call up my second-degree amendment.