|
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has defied his leadership’s orders not to work with vulnerable Republicans facing reelection.
Baucus, the sometimes-maverick chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, used a bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, who is facing a tough reelection battle in Oregon, as the basis of an Iran sanctions plan his committee passed last week.
Smith believes Baucus used his bill and gave him credit for it at a Senate Finance Committee markup because the chairman felt bad about shutting Smith out from legislation to prevent cuts to Medicare physician payments.
“He was very sheepish about it when he told me I couldn’t be the lead,” said Smith, recounting his conversation with Baucus about Medicare legislation. “My sense is that Max is very anxious to take on healthcare for seniors but he has tremendous pressure on him from above to toe the line.”
Baucus’s actions suggest Democratic senators will sometimes work to retain good relationships with their GOP counterparts despite the edict from leadership not to help Republicans in danger of losing election bids.
In the case of the Iran bill, Baucus gave a lift to Smith and irritated business groups, since the legislation could prevent a nuclear agreement between the U.S. and Russia from being implemented, potentially costing General Electric and other companies billions of dollars.
A senior Democratic aide said he was not aware of leadership forbidding chairmen and rank-and-file Democrats from cooperating with vulnerable Republicans on popular legislation, but GOP senators said they have no doubt such a prohibition exists.
“I have seen that,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), senior Republican on the Finance Committee, when asked if Democrats have refused to work with endangered Republicans.
“There was ample evidence of it in a meeting I had this morning,” he said, but declined to reveal details of private meetings out of respect for his colleagues.
Smith noted that, with the exception of Baucus, other Finance Democrats were careful not to mention his name as they considered the Iran Sanctions Act of 2008, which was modeled after Smith’s bill.
“I thought it was nice of him to mention that he used my bill,” Smith said of Baucus. “He and I have a great working relationship, and I don’t think he wants to see that compromised and neither do I.”
After Finance approved an Iran sanctions bill based on Smith’s Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007, Smith blasted out a news release touting the victory. Smith’s bill had gathered 72 co-sponsors, including Baucus and more than 30 Democrats, since March of last year.
|
