September 20, 2008
Baucus: Taxpayers should not have to pay for bailout By PETER JOHNSON Tribune Staff Writer
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus believes the proposed financial bailout plan is on the right track, and will help restore needed confidence in the U.S. stock market and financial institutions.
"The crisis is extremely serious and has to be addressed immediately, thoroughly and in a nonpartisan manner to prevent it from extending from Wall Street to Main Street," the Montana Democrat said Friday.
Details of the proposal by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were not released as of Friday afternoon, he said. However, because the proposal would raise the national debt limit and have tax consequences, it may be referred to the Senate Finance Committee, which Baucus chairs.
Montana banks and financial institutions know their customers, use sound lending practices and did not cause the financial crisis, Baucus said, so Montanans should not have to pay any fines or penalties as part of the solution.
"Taxpayers in general should not have to foot the bill for the bailout," he said.
Baucus added that he would like to see Congress limit the "golden parachutes," or rich retirement benefits, given to executives of large companies that receive federal financial aid.
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is a member of the Senate Banking Committee that will question Paulson and Bernanke at a hearing Tuesday.
Tester said he will ask how the government can help Wall Street without hurting Montana taxpayers, and why smaller Montana businesses and farmers don't get some of the same help as large institutions.
In other matters, Baucus said:
He expects his plan to boost energy production by extending and improving tax credits for renewable energy production will be approved by Congress in the next week or two.
The bill would extend the tax credits for production of renewable energy, such as the Judith Gap Wind Farm, for three years, and provide $2.5 billion in new tax credits for certain coal electricity and gasification projects that demonstrate the best potential to sequester carbon dioxide.
"This bill will definitely be good for Montana and the nation," Baucus said, adding it will help finance a power transmission line needed for proposed Hi-Line wind plants and help make the nation less dependent on foreign oil.
He backed the Defense Authorization Bill that raised the pay of active-duty military members by 3.9 percent, and has introduced legislation to give tax breaks to small businesses that employ Reserve members deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Baucus said he was pleased that Air Force Secretary Michael Donley visited Great Falls last month and has "a good feeling" that the Air Force will approve an "active-associate wing" in which active-duty pilots would be housed at Malmstrom Air Force Base while training with Montana Air National Guard pilots.
He expects the Pentagon to delay making a decision on a proposed coal-to-liquid fuels plant at Malmstrom until after a new presidential administration goes to work next year.
Baucus said the plant could provide plenty of new jobs, but technical questions about its water usage and carbon gas production have to be answered first.
He believes Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has a good chance to carry Montana, with internal polls showing an even race in the state between Obama and Republican John McCain.
"People want a change from the Republican administration that pushed the Iraq war, and that has done nothing to address the health care crisis or energy needs," he said.
Baucus said he has declined to debate his Republican opponent Bob Kelleher because he thinks little would be gained by the public listening to Kelleher talk about his favorite topic: switching to a parliamentary form of government. The country is simply not going to make such a dramatic switch, Baucus said.
He said he has crisscrossed the state, including holding 15 "burger bonanzas" in August, to give people a chance to hear his views and decide whether they want to elect him to a sixth six-year term.