Max Baucus (D-Mont.)

Even before the 2008 presidential election, Baucus and then-Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Kennedy (D-Mass.) talked with interest groups about sticking points in the health-care debate in the hopes of avoiding a debacle similar to what happened when President Bill Clinton tried to pass health-care reform in 1993.

Just days after Obama's election, Baucus established health reform as a major Democratic priority-and established himself as one of the issue's legislative leaders-by releasing his white paper, "Call to Action: Health Reform 2009."

Baucus and Grassley pledged to produced a bipartisan health- reform bill from their committee. They joined Kennedy, who would also write a bill in his HELP committee, in setting a deadline of June 2009. But Kennedy's bill was far more progressive, and the deadline slipped until September.

Kennedy, whose cause was taken up by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) after his August 2009 death, advocated an expansive public health-insurance plan, based on Medicare. Though Baucus and Grassley had not released a plan yet, Grassley and top Republicans came out against publicly-funded health insurance, and Baucus was expected to play down a public plan in favor of a bipartisan compromise.

But as negotiations progressed, the Finance Committee began to look like the last hope for bipartisan health reform, and Baucus indicated he was willing to scrap the public option to get it done. Baucus created the "Gang of Six": six Finance committee members from both sides of the aisle who sat down to create compromise on health care.

The group included ranking Republican Grassley, as well as Republicans Mike Enzi (Wyo.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine), who seemed she might be willing to cut a deal. Representing the Democrats were Baucus, Jeff Bingaman (N.M.) and Kent Conrad (N.D.), whose plan to create non-profit health-insurance co-ops gained popularity as a possible replacement for a public option.

But during the August 2009 recess, the group frayed. In their home states, Enzi used the Republican's weekly radio address to criticize the cost of "Obamacare". Obama's White House fired back at Enzi from the briefing room, accusing him of abandoning bipartisanship.

In September 2009, Baucus announced an $850 billion bill that included Conrad's non-profit insurance co-ops instead of the Democrat-favored public insurance option. It also would require all Americans to carry insurance by 2013 and prohibited insurance companies from discriminating against customers based on their health status.

After a seven-day mark-up process with the full Finance Committee, the longest for the committee in fifteen years, the amended bill was estimated to cost $830 billion over ten years.

After more than a year of legislative wrangling, the House passed the Senate version of health-care reform on March 21, 2010, clearing the way for the Senate to approve a package of amendments insisted on by the lower chamber with a simple majority (using a process known as reconciliation).

The $940 billion bill requires most Americans to carry health insurance and requires that insurance companies cover them, regardless of pre-existing conditions. It establishes a national insurance exchange allowing Americans to compare and purchase insurance plans. The bill will be paid for by increasing taxes on well-off Medicare recipients and by taxing premium insurance plans. By the end of the bill's 10-year roll-out, 32 million uninsured Americans will have health coverage and the deficit will be $138 billion lower, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

Bush Tax Cuts and Prescription Drug Coverage

Baucus even stood behind Bush at the signing of the 2001 tax cut bill - though he later voted against the president's 2003 tax cuts. The House and Senate Democratic leadership railed against the Bush tax cuts as proof that Republicans favor the wealthy. Sen. John Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) called Baucus and Grassley "sadly misguided," and others said Baucus, who was up for re-election in 2002, was joining with Republicans to save himself in that election. But then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said at the time that he was not disappointed in Baucus.

But Democrats lashed out at Baucus when he backed Republicans on the 2003 Bush prescription-drug Medicare bill. The original Senate bill had support from liberals such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). But the House passed a much more conservative version, and in conference committee, Republicans locked out all the Democrats except for the friendly ones: Baucus and then-Sen. John Breaux (D-La.).

The result was a bill that included language preventing the government from bargaining with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices, and other Republican-favored provisions. This time, Democrats were furious with Baucus. They thought he should have refused to participate in closed negotiations. Senate Majority Leader Daschle and other party leaders began openly discussing forcing Baucus to step down from his Finance Committee post, but cooler heads ultimately prevailed. The fighting between Daschle and Buacus continued, and it was so notable that Harry M. Reid wrote about it in his book, "The Good Fight." "By the end, they really couldn't stand each other and had had several extremely testy exchanges on the [Senate] floor and in private as a result," Reid wrote.

Though he hasn't always been in lockstep with the rest of the Democratic Party, Baucus has also been a fierce advocate for the party's ideas at times. Just two years after the Medicare issue, then-Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) entrusted Baucus with the task of lead Democratic negotiator for any bill designed to overhaul Social Security. Baucus strongly opposed the Bush administration's proposal allowing workers to put a portion of their Social Security money into private accounts and never let proposal come to the floor. He has also consistently pushed for the passing of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and he teamed with Grassley to try to reauthorize and expand SCHIP over Bush's veto.

The Economy

Baucus supported the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in the fall of 2008. He justified his decision by telling the story of a Montana businessman who called him to let him know that he had lost a loan needed to retain his inventory. Baucus was worried that if the banks crashed, normal people, such as college students, potential home owners and local business owners, would not be able to get the loans they need.

But Baucus was still skeptical of spending $700 billion on the bailout, and he pushed for oversight. He inserted a provision in the package requiring the hiring of an inspector general to monitor the use of the funds. "I've said before that I don't like bailouts, and my support for the financial rescue program was conditioned on this strong protection that the special IG can provide for taxpayers," Baucus said. When Congress was debating the auto bailout at the end of 2008, Baucus voted against it because of a tax issue provision in the bill.

President Obama hoped to get cooperation from Baucus in early 2009, when Obama was trying to push an $800 billion economic stimulus bill through Congress. Baucus was interested in helping to craft the massive request that Obama wanted, but he also expressed concern that there was not enough money dedicated to alternative energy development.

Baucus said he wouldn't draft a bad bill just to get it to the president's desk by mid-February 2009, as Obama had requested. "My goal here is to get people together to get meaningful stimulus legislation passed," Baucus said. "I'm kind of the shepherd here. I'm kind of the herder here and the cajoler. I'm the cajoler here and also the hammer as well."

Trade

Baucus is a strong advocate for free trade, though he has also pushed for stronger labor and environmental standards in bilateral trade agreements. He pushed for permanent normal trade relations with China and Vietnam. After Japan banned U.S. beef in December 2003, Baucus convinced the country to drop the ban (beef farming is a large industry in Montana). He said that the U.S. has long "distanced" itself from Asia and criticized the country for "pursuing politically motivated trade agreements with very small countries of little economic significance that create few jobs here at home."

Iraq War

Baucus initially authorized the 2002 use of force in Iraq, but has since said that "faulty intelligence" from the Bush administration forced him to make a vote that he considers a mistake. His nephew, Cpl. Phillip Baucus, was killed while serving in Iraq in July 2006, and Baucus regularly says that the government needs to bring the troops home as soon as possible.

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