Sen. Baucus is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Debates in Washington may be filled with charts and memos, but this nation is filled with people — people who are in desperate need of smart solutions, people who are counting on Congress to act on a number of outstanding issues of national concern.
All year, I’ve worked with my friends in both political parties. I’ve put proposals on the table to protect taxpayers from the AMT, improve Medicare reimbursement to physicians, create a better safety net for farms hit by agriculture disasters, to improve American energy policy, and to insure children living without health coverage and care. But each time my colleagues and I have crafted a strong, robust, and bipartisan solution for one of these issues, someone has threatened or actually stopped its passage into law.
It’s time for that to stop. It’s time to put people before politics, and work together in good faith for the American people. Every member of Congress, and of the current administration, needs to remember who we’re working for, and the challenges they face every day.
Somewhere in America today, a senior citizen is worried that she won’t see her doctor next year because Medicare reimbursement rates will be too low to keep the practice in business. Somewhere, parents in a working family are worried that the Alternative Minimum Tax will balloon their tax bill so much that basic expenses are hard to meet. Somewhere, a family farmer is wondering how he will keep his farm afloat if a natural disaster strikes his region. Somewhere, a commuter is buying his kids fewer Christmas presents because rising gas prices have emptied his wallet. Somewhere, a hard-working mother can’t sleep at night because her children are uninsured.
These Americans are counting on Congress to find some solutions to these national concerns. For their sake, it’s time to turn the page in the Senate and get things done. We can do it — if we work hard and work together, for the sake of the Americans we serve.